Meet Sabba Keynejad, man who was rejected by Y Combinator but kept building VEED, his startup later reached $40M in annual recurring revenue

Sabba Keynejad, the co-founder of VEED, led the startup to a successful business that made him huge profit. He built a platform that was used to edit videos, add subtitles, and it later became a multi-million company. His company also did not rely on outside investment in the first few years.

In 2018, with Timur Mamedov, he built the company. They had only one idea, and it was to make people edit videos easily, and create clips directly in a web browser, without needing complex software or advanced technical skills. The company later expanded its platform to serve content creators, marketers and businesses.

Who is Sabba Keynejad?

Keynejad is a designer and entrepreneur who co-founded VEED with Mamedov. Before starting the company, he studied interaction design and worked in creative technology.


They had only one goal, and it was to simplify video production for its customers. Traditional editing tools could be difficult for people who only wanted to make videos for online platforms.

On March 20, 2018, VEED was founded, and it began as an online video editor and later developed into a broader video creation platform. It had features like editing videos and adding subtitles.

Why did Y Combinator reject them?

In 2019, they applied to Y Combinator, a startup accelerator that provides selected companies with support, access to investors. They reached the final interview stage but were rejected because they did not have paying customers.

The founders later responded by introducing a paid plan. Keynejad later explained that they worked to add the option and contacted YC again after securing their first paying customers. The accelerator rejected them a second time.

According to the founders' account, the company gained its first 20 paying users over a weekend after introducing the change.

The founders initially relied on the revenue from the business instead of raising money from outside investors.

Keynejad said VEED reached $1 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) within about a year of beginning to charge customers.

How much revenue did VEED reach?

VEED's growth eventually attracted investment from Sequoia Capital. In 2022, the company announced a $35 million funding round. Keynejad said VEED had already built a profitable business with millions of dollars in subscription revenue before raising the money.

By 2025, Starter Story was reporting that VEED had reached $40 million in ARR.