Photo, Video-Editing App Developer Lightricks Raises $135M At $1B Valuation

By NoCamels Team July 31, 2019 2 minutes

Lightricks products. Courtesy

Israeli content creation app developer Lightricks announced Wednesday that it raised $135 million in a Series C funding round at a $1 billion valuation.

The round was led by Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing with participation from additional investors such as Insight Partners and ClalTech.

The capital brings Lightricks’ total funding to $205 million to date.

Kirk Lepke, vice president at Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing will join the Lightricks board of directors.

The investment will be used to accelerate the development of more AI-powered content creation tools by making strategic acquisitions and expanding company offices around the world, a statement from the Jerusalem-based firm said. Lightricks aims to “significantly” grow its current team of 250 employees across Israel and the UK as well as open a third office in Germany.

“We’re excited to reach this milestone, but we’re just getting started on our mission to create fun and powerful tools that reimagine the way content is created all over the world,” said Zeev Farbman, Lightricks co-founder, and CEO. “As we accelerate our expansion, the additional funding will cement our position as the leader in mass-market content creation, which is proving to be a multi-billion dollar industry.”

Founded in 2013, Lightricks was one of the first app developers to pioneer the subscription model on the App Store, demonstrating that consumers will pay for and subscribe to apps when significant value is offered, the company said.

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The startup, which last secured a $60 million funding round in November 2018, is known to help amateur photographers and videographers master professional-style photo editing via its apps on Apple and Android.

Lightricks’ seven apps have over 180 million downloads worldwide and nearly three million paying subscribers. The company’s apps have won awards including Best of Google Play, three Apple’s App of the Year awards and the prestigious Apple Design Award.

Its Facetune portrait retouching application reached Apple’s best-selling paid app in 2017. Lightricks is also behind the popular Enlight photo editing app, which was Apple’s App of the Year in 2015, the No. 11 bestselling paid iOS app in 2016, and winner of Apple’s prestigious Apple Design Awards of 2017. Both apps also reached a No.1 rank on iOS charts in over 120 countries.

Lightricks has also built a number of additional creativity apps, including video editor Videoleap and Quickshot.

“We are firm believers in Lightricks’ vision to bring content creation to everyone. Since last year, the company has tripled revenues, released several new innovative products, and opened a third international office. We believe that Lightricks is solidifying its standing as the category-defining, clear market leader,” said Harley Miller, a board member from Insight Partners.