Founded 2013 by five Hebrew University PhD students in Jerusalem. $335M raised, $1.8B valuation. Facetune, Videoleap. AI-first enterprise pivot underway.
Creative AI platform · Founded 2013 by Zeev Farbman, Nir Pochter, Yaron Inger, Amit Goldstein, and Itai Tsiddon · HQ Jerusalem · $335M raised · $1.8B valuation (2021) · Facetune, Videoleap, Photoleap · AI-first enterprise pivot underway.
Lightricks at a Glance
| Company | Lightricks Ltd. |
| Founded | 2013, Jerusalem |
| Co-founders | Zeev Farbman (CEO) · Nir Pochter (CMO) · Yaron Inger (CTO) · Amit Goldstein (COO) · Itai Tsiddon |
| Headquarters | Jerusalem, Israel (+ New York office) |
| Product | AI-powered photo and video editing apps — Facetune, Videoleap, Photoleap, Enlight suite |
| Total funding | $335M across 4 rounds |
| Valuation | $1.8B (Series D, September 2021) |
| Employees | ~500 |
| Status | Private · AI-first enterprise pivot |
Five PhD Students in Jerusalem
Lightricks was founded in January 2013 by five entrepreneurs from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem — four of them computer science PhD students. Zeev Farbman (CEO), Nir Pochter (CMO), Yaron Inger (CTO), Amit Goldstein (COO), and Itai Tsiddon brought deep academic expertise in computer graphics, image processing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. The founding thesis was that advances in mobile processing power and computer vision could enable professional-grade photo and video editing on smartphones — tools that had previously required desktop software and technical expertise.
The company is headquartered in Jerusalem, not Tel Aviv — a deliberate choice that makes Lightricks one of the most prominent technology companies in Israel's capital. The Jerusalem location connects Lightricks to the Hebrew University research pipeline and positions it outside the Tel Aviv startup cluster where most Israeli consumer-tech companies are based.
Facetune and the Creator Economy
Lightricks' breakout product was Facetune — a selfie-editing app that became one of the most downloaded paid apps globally. Facetune let users retouch portraits with professional-grade tools in a consumer-grade interface: smoothing skin, whitening teeth, reshaping features, removing blemishes. The app became ubiquitous among Instagram creators and influencers, generating the revenue that funded the company's early growth. The company used what CEO Farbman called "the bakery model" — make a product, sell it, hire more people, repeat — becoming profitable without requiring large venture rounds in its early years.
The product line expanded to include Videoleap (video editing), Photoleap (creative photo editing), and the broader Enlight suite. The company shifted to a subscription model, which tripled revenues year-over-year for three consecutive years leading into the 2019 Series C. By 2021, Lightricks' apps had been downloaded hundreds of millions of times and the company served millions of active subscribers.
The Funding Trajectory
Lightricks raised $335 million across four rounds: $10 million (2016, Carmel Ventures), $135 million Series C at $1 billion (July 2019, Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing — the largest Series C by a Jerusalem-headquartered company at the time), and $130 million Series D at $1.8 billion (September 2021, co-led by Insight Partners and Hanaco Venture Capital, with Goldman Sachs, Claltech, Harel Insurance, Greycroft, Altshuler Shaham, and Shavit Capital).
The investor base is notable for its depth of Israeli institutional capital — Harel Insurance, Altshuler Shaham, Migdal Insurance, Claltech, and Qumra Capital all participated, making Lightricks one of the Israeli unicorns with the broadest domestic institutional shareholder base.
The AI-First Enterprise Pivot
In late 2025 and into 2026, Lightricks pivoted toward enterprise AI content creation — moving from consumer selfie editing to B2B tools that help brands and businesses generate visual content at scale using generative AI. The pivot reflects a broader pattern: consumer creative apps face commoditization pressure from free AI tools (Midjourney, DALL-E, Canva's AI features), while enterprise customers need branded, compliant, scalable content-generation workflows that consumer tools cannot provide. Shavit Capital, a Lightricks investor, described the company as "reorienting its business model" toward enterprise, part of a broader Israeli AI ecosystem shift toward sector-specific enterprise applications.
Lightricks in the Israeli Consumer-Tech Lineage
Lightricks sits in a distinctive Israeli consumer-technology cohort — alongside Fiverr (creative services marketplace), Loom (video messaging, acquired by Atlassian), and the broader Israeli mobile-app ecosystem. The company is also part of the Israeli AI layer — its core technology in computer vision and generative AI connects it to Israel's AI economy and to peers like NextSilicon and AI21 Labs, though Lightricks operates at the application layer rather than the infrastructure layer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded Lightricks?
Five Hebrew University PhD students — Zeev Farbman (CEO), Nir Pochter, Yaron Inger, Amit Goldstein, and Itai Tsiddon — co-founded Lightricks in Jerusalem in 2013.
What does Lightricks make?
AI-powered photo and video editing apps including Facetune, Videoleap, and Photoleap, used by millions of creators and increasingly by enterprise customers.
How much has Lightricks raised?
$335 million across four rounds, reaching a $1.8 billion valuation in September 2021.
Is Lightricks based in Jerusalem?
Yes — Lightricks is one of the most prominent tech companies headquartered in Jerusalem rather than Tel Aviv.
What is Facetune?
A selfie-editing app that became one of the most downloaded paid apps globally, widely used by Instagram creators and influencers.
Is Lightricks pivoting to enterprise?
Yes. The company is shifting toward AI-powered content creation tools for brands and businesses, moving beyond its consumer-app roots.
Who are Lightricks' competitors?
Canva (broader creative platform), Runway (AI video), Adobe (enterprise creative suite), and emerging generative AI image tools.
Primary Sources
Lightricks company announcements on funding rounds. Times of Israel Series C and Series D coverage. Crunchbase and TechCrunch founding story. Forbes company profile. Shavit Capital 2026 enterprise pivot analysis. Tracxn and PitchBook funding data.
