Israeli App Developer Lightricks Secures $130M At $1.8B Valuation

Jerusalem-based photo and video editing app developer Lightricks announced on Sunday that it has secured $130 million in Series D fundraising – comprised of $100 million in primary and $30 million in secondary funding, the company said in a statement.

The amount raised brings Lightricks’ total funding to $335 million, giving the company a valuation of approximately $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.

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 the investment will be used to expand its suite of tools – which already includes Facetune2, Facetune Video and Videoleap – and offer more features and services for creators, as the creator economy continues to boom.

The new funds will support growth through future mergers and acquisitions and be used to create new tools, solidifying Lightricks as a go-to platform to elevate creators in the creator economy, the company said.

This round follows the company Series C round in 2019, where it raised $135 million at a $1 billion valuation.

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.”

While lockdowns across the world affected businesses across a range of fields, Lightricks saw a 90 percent increase in app usage across its creativity tools in the United States alone. Videoleap, its most popular video editing app for professional creators witnessed a 70%-increase since the start of the shutdowns.

A recent survey found that nearly half of Videoleap users export their creations to popular app TikTok in pursuit of monetized content.

“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,” he concluded.

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