Vimeo, Inc. was founded in 2004 by Jake Lodwick and Zach Klein as a side project under CollegeHumor’s parent company, Connected Ventures. The name Vimeo is a blend of the words ‘video’ and ‘me,’ and also an anagram of ‘movie.’ Initially launched as a platform for sharing short films and humorous content, it quickly positioned itself as a leader in high-quality video hosting and streaming services.
The company was acquired by IAC in 2006, which allowed Vimeo to scale its operations and shift from a consumer-facing video sharing site to a professional-grade platform focusing on creators and businesses. It became known for pioneering support of HD video content as early as 2007 and introduced paid packages to offer enhanced features like increased upload limits and priority encoding.
Over time, Vimeo intentionally moved away from competing directly with mass-market platforms like YouTube, instead emphasizing tools and services tailored for video professionals, enterprises, and creative teams. This included video creation, editing, hosting, collaboration, and distribution solutions offered on a Software as a Service (SaaS) model.
In May 2021, Vimeo was spun off from IAC to become an independent publicly traded company with a clear focus on enterprise solutions and profitability. Since then, Vimeo has prioritized scaling its business-oriented features, implementing AI-powered video tools, and refining pricing to serve larger organizations and professional clients.
Headquartered in New York City, Vimeo has grown to serve millions of users worldwide, with a strong presence in video hosting, sharing, and related services. Its mission centers on empowering video creators and businesses to share and monetize high-quality video content effectively, making it a critical platform in the professional video ecosystem.
Today, Vimeo stands as a leading SaaS video company that enables creators and enterprises to produce, host, share, and sell videos with premium quality and professional-grade tools, continuing to innovate in the online video space.