NEW YORK & JERUSALEM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lightricks, creator of the world's leading photo and video editing apps including Facetune2, Facetune Video, and Videoleap, today announced $130M in Series D funding. The round is comprised of $100M in primary and $30M in secondary funding which brings Lightricks’ total funding to-date to $335M and the company’s latest valuation to $1.8 billion. The round was co-led by New York-based global private equity and venture capital firm Insight Partners and Hanaco Venture Capital, with participation from existing investors Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Clal Tech, Harel Insurance and Finance and Greycroft, and new investors Migdal Insurance, Altshuler Shaham and Shavit Capital. Lightricks raised this strategic Series D to power the expansion of its suite of tools and offer more features and services for creators, further cementing its position as a leading player in the booming creator economy.
In just over eight years since its founding, Lightricks has grown to develop dozens of creativity apps for users in every country of the world, spanning from beginners to professional artists and creators. On the heels of this current funding round and explosion of the creator economy, Lightricks will aim to expand the company by initiating strategic mergers and acquisitions and creating new platforms and tools specifically geared towards professional creators. Lightricks plans to add to its already expansive offering with the goal to become a one-stop shop for resources including creative tools, services and monetization opportunities.
“Our mission has always been to continuously strive to bring creators the most advanced technology and help them find new ways to express themselves,” said Zeev Farbman, co-founder and CEO of Lightricks. “The rise of the creator economy has only exacerbated the need of mobile users to streamline the content creation and monetization processes. With this latest funding, we’re able to help elevate our users' creativity and capabilities with continued advancements to our technology and offering.”
Lightricks’ apps have seen tremendous growth during the past year, with millions of people turning to the creativity tools to express themselves and earn income during the pandemic. During the peak of the pandemic lockdown, Lightricks saw a 90 percent increase in app usage across its creativity tools in the U.S. The number of downloads for Videoleap—its most popular video editing app for professional creators—increased 70 percent since the start of the pandemic. A survey found that nearly half of Videoleap users are exporting their creations to TikTok in pursuit of monetized content. Lightricks users create over a billion creations per year on the creativity apps, and the company continues to innovate and improve upon its tools to better serve creators in the creator economy, having launched four completely new apps within the last year.
“We’re delighted to continue to team with Lightricks to help further professionalize the world of content creation,” said Thilo Semmelbauer, Managing Director at Insight Partners. “We look forward to Lightricks building the future of this industry by continuing to supply creators with the highest-quality, most-preferred tools and technology. Lightricks allows people to showcase their individuality and brand on social media, whether for personal self-expression or for monetization.”
“The creator economy has changed the way we, as a society, experience social networks. Audiences constantly consume information through the different content channels daily. Lightricks’ platform enables creators to have a broader, more professional and higher-quality set of tools to optimize content,” said Pasha Romanovski, Co-Founding Partner of Hanaco Ventures. "At a time when we are seeing content creators monetize content on social media at new levels, it is clear that Lightricks' platform has the ability to create a one stop shop that will be meaningful to its users.”
Lightricks’ popular suite of creativity apps currently includes editing tools for social media such as Facetune2, Facetune Video, and Filtertune, general creativity photo and video editing tools such as Videoleap, Motionleap, Photoleap, Artleap, Lightleap, and Beatleap, and the Boosted app which is Lightricks’ social media toolkit for small businesses.
To access the Lightricks’ media kit, including visual assets, please click here.
For more information about Lightricks, please visit www.lightricks.com.
ABOUT LIGHTRICKS
Lightricks is a pioneer in innovative technology that leads to breakthrough moments throughout the creation process. On a mission to push the limits of technology to reimagine the way creators express themselves, the company brings a unique blend of cutting-edge academic research and design to every user experience. Lightricks’ suite of apps has over 500 million downloads worldwide and has won numerous prestigious awards — including Apple's App of the Year, the Apple Design Award and both Apple and Google Play’s Best of the Year. With five international offices, and backers including Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Insight Partners, Greycroft, ClalTech and Viola Ventures, Lightricks continues to empower creators from the moment inspiration strikes.
Download the apps now on iOS and also on Google Play. For more information, visit www.lightricks.com
ABOUT INSIGHT PARTNERS
Insight Partners is a leading global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-growth technology and software ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Founded in 1995, Insight Partners has invested in more than 400 companies worldwide and has raised through a series of funds more than $30 billion in capital commitments. Insight’s mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with practical, hands-on software expertise to foster long-term success. Across its people and its portfolio, Insight encourages a culture around a belief that ScaleUp companies and growth create opportunity for all. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter @insightpartners.
ABOUT HANACO VENTURES
Hanaco Ventures is a New York and Tel Aviv-based venture capital fund that invests in emerging and late-stage start-ups from the global tech ecosystem. Hanaco partners with founders around the world, helping them become category leaders beloved by their customers. Our focus areas include Agtech, Agrifood, Foodtech and Digital Health, and software companies in the SaaS, Cyber and Fintech industries.
