Lightricks

Lightricks, founded in January 2013, is a company that develops video and image editing mobile apps, known particularly for its selfie-editing app, Facetune.[1][2][3] Headquartered in Jerusalem, the firm has approximately 600 employees.[4][5] As of 2023, its apps have been downloaded over 680 million times.[6][7]

Lightricks
TypePrivate
IndustrySoftware Development
Founded2013
HeadquartersJerusalem, Israel
Key people
Zeev Farbman
OwnerLightricks Ltd
Number of employees
600
Websitelightricks.com

History

The company was created in 2013 by 5 founders, Ph.D. students Zeev Farbman, Nir Pochter, Yaron Inger, Amit Goldstein, and former Supreme Court of Israel clerk Itai Tsiddon who were all studying at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.[2][8] Lightricks began life as a bootstrapped company, which was the subject of a case study from the Harvard Business School "Bootstrapping at Lightricks".[9]

The company received in 2015 its first funding round of $10 million led by Viola Ventures.[10][11] It received its second round of funding of $60 million in November 2018, led by Insight Venture Partners and with participation from Israeli VC company ClalTech.[8] In July 2019, it secured $135 million in series C funding led by Goldman Sachs, with participation from Insight Partners and ClalTech; this was reported to imply a $1 billion valuation.[12][13][14] It puts the total raised to date at $205 million.[15][16] Lightricks ended 2018 with over $50 million in revenue.[2] In September 2021, the company received $100 million in primary and $30 million in secondary Series D funding. This valued the company at $1.8 billion.[17]

Operations

After beginning in the Hebrew University campus, the company outgrew its space a number of times. It remains based in Jerusalem, Israel, with offices in Haifa, Beer Sheva, London and Chicago; it has a total of approximately 600 employees.[18][4][19]

Once Apple Inc allowed it, Lightricks was one of the first app companies to offer subscriptions. Most of its apps are now published under a freemium model.[20][21][22]

Products

Flagship Products
  • Facetune, a world renowned selfie editing app, which was named as Apple's most downloaded app in 2017.[23] In 2021 it was ranked as one of Apple's top-5 paid apps for the seventh consecutive year.[24]
  • Photoleap (formerly known as Photofox and Enlight), a general image editing app, which was preceded by Enlight Photofox.[25] The app allows the user to generate artwork to be shared on social media with a number of different editing options.[26] It was one of the first mobile applications to offer generative AI capabilities and text-to-image.[27]
  • Videoleap, a video editor.[28]
  • Popular Pays, an influencer marketing and content creation platform, acquired in 2022.[29]

Other Apps
  • Lightleap (formerly known as Quickshot), a pre-image viewer.[30]
  • Motionleap (formerly known as Pixaloop), an image animation tool created in 2018 where one can animate otherwise-still elements of a picture in different ways.
  • Beatleap, an audio-first video editing tool. The app features music by Epidemic Sound.
  • Artleap (formerly known as QuickArt), a photo editing tool.
  • Seen, a story making tool.
  • Boosted (formerly known as BoostApps), a graphic design template tool aimed towards social media marketing.[31]
  • Facetune Video, a selfie-retouching video tool that allows users to retouch and edit their selfie and portrait videos in real time using a set of A.I.-powered tools.[32] Integrated into Facetune.
  • Filtertune, a photo filter tool designed to create a community around custom photo filters. With the app, creators can make their own personalized preset photo filters, then share them across social media as photos with a QR code attached.[33]

References
  1. "Lightricks proves the Start Up Nation is not just about Tel-Aviv". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  2. "Calcalist's Top 50 Startups 2019: #11-#17". Calcalist. 8 May 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  3. "Mobile photo connect : 10 questions to a founder : Lightricks". Kaptur. 11 October 2017. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  4. "Facetune Developer Lightricks to Open R&D Center in Haifa". Calacalist. 8 December 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  5. "Yet Another Israeli Unicorn: Lightricks Raises Funds at $1b Valuation". Haaretz. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  6. Hazani, Golan (2021-09-19). "Lightricks announces $130 million Series D at $1.8 billion valuation". CTECH - www.calcalistech.com. Retrieved 2021-12-19.
  7. "PressKit". www.lightricks.com. Retrieved 2023-08-30.
  8. "Enlight and Facetune creator Lightricks raises $60 million". Venture Beat. 19 November 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  9. "Bootstrapping at Lightricks". Harvard Business School. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  10. "Israeli image editing app co Lightricks raises $60m". Globes. 19 November 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  11. "Lightricks, The Creator Of Facetune, Lands $10M To Develop New Photo-Editing Apps". TechCrunch. 12 August 2015. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  12. "App developer Lightricks raises $135 million at a $1 billion valuation". Venture Beat. 31 July 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  13. "Yet Another Israeli Unicorn: Lightricks Raises Funds at $1b Valuation". Haaretz. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  14. "The maker of popular selfie app Facetune just landed $135 million at a unicorn valuation". TechCrunch. 31 July 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  15. "Israeli software firm Lightricks raises $135 million at $1 billion valuation". Reuters. 31 July 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  16. "App developer Lightricks raises $135 million at a $1 billion valuation". VentureBeat. 31 July 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  17. "Facetune maker Lightricks raises $130 million ahead of M&A plans". Techcrunch. 20 September 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  18. "C-tech: Jerusalem-based Lightricks opens London office". UK Israel Business. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  19. "To keep creativity alive, Lightricks initiated its 'Creativity Festival'". Calacalist. 18 February 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  20. "Apple reportedly asked devs to adopt subscriptions and hike app prices". Venture Beat. 13 August 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  21. "Leading developer Lightricks launches Facetune 2.0 to leverage Apple's app subscription model". Venture Beat. 25 November 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  22. "Facetune is looking to prove that the subscription iPhone app model can work". Vox. 25 November 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  23. "Apple's most downloaded apps of 2017". Mashable. 7 December 2017. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  24. Thompson, David (2021-12-17). "Facetune Apps Amass Over 30 Million iPhone Downloads in 2021". Tech Times. Retrieved 2021-12-19.
  25. "Facetune maker's newest app, Enlight Photofox, is a powerful image editor". TechCrunch. 6 July 2017. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  26. "Testing photo editing apps: "Photofox: Digital Art"". DW. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  27. Forristal, Lauren (2022-08-26). "Lightricks launches text-to-image generator". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-09-04.
  28. "Enlight Videoleap". Sensor Tower. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  29. "Lightricks acquires Popular Pays in deal valued at tens of millions of dollars". ctech. 2022-03-24. Retrieved 2023-09-04.
  30. "Enlight Quickshot". Sensor Tower. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  31. "8 must-have e-commerce tools for boosting revenues in 2021". Tech Republic. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  32. "Facetune maker Lightricks brings its popular selfie retouching features to video". TechCrunch. 28 July 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  33. "Facetune maker's new app Filtertune let anyone create and share personalized photo filters". TechCrunch. 27 October 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
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