Picsart

Picsart is an Armenian-founded cross-platform design and editing platform that offers web and mobile tools for creating images and videos using templates, layer-based editors and generative AI features.[1] Its browser-based editor (Picsart Web) and mobile apps provide template-based and freeform editing for photos and videos.[2][3] As of 2024, TechCrunch reported that Picsart serves about 150 million monthly active users and partnered with Getty Images on a commercially safe AI image model.[4] The apps have been downloaded over one billion times globally.[5]

Usage

TechCrunch and other outlets have reported that Picsart has around 150 million monthly active users and more than one billion cumulative downloads worldwide.

History

2011–2014

Picsart was founded in November 2011 by Armenian entrepreneur Hovhannes Avoyan with engineers Artavazd Mehrabyan and Mikayel Vardanyan; the first app launched on Android later that year.[25] The company released an iOS version for iPhone in January 2013 and expanded to iPad in mid-2013.[26] In 2014 Picsart added support for Windows platforms, including Windows Phone and Windows 8.1 PCs and tablets.[27][28]

2015–2017

Picsart raised financing to expand the platform, including a US$10 million round led by Sequoia Capital (February 2015) and a US$15 million round led by Insight Venture Partners (June 2015).[29][30] In April 2016, the company secured an additional US$20 million to grow its user base in Asia.[31]

Picsart introduced community and collaboration tools during this period, including “Remix Chat” for collaborative editing (2017) and custom sticker creation features.[32][33] User growth milestones reported in the press included 100 million monthly active users by October 2017.[34]

2018–2020

By March 2019 Picsart reported reaching 130 million monthly active users, with strong adoption in Asia.[35] In late 2019 and January 2020, Picsart and the American University of Armenia (AUA) announced a joint artificial intelligence lab in Yerevan to conduct research in machine learning and computer vision.[36][37]

2021–2022

On August 26, 2021, Picsart raised US$130 million in a Series C led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, valuing the company at over US$1 billion.[38][39] In February 2022 the company moved its corporate headquarters to Miami Beach as part of a global expansion.[40]

Picsart launched an API/SDK programme ("Picsart for Developers") in February 2022 to let partners embed editing capabilities,[41] and introduced AI-powered enhancement features in mid-2022.[42] Later that year, the company added a text-to-image generator and AI writing tools to its consumer apps.[43]

2023–present

In December 2022 Picsart launched “AI Avatars”, followed by a standalone app, SketchAI, in January 2023 for turning sketches into digital art with generative models.[45][46] In May 2023 the company introduced Spaces, topic-based in-app communities for collaboration and discovery.[47] In 2024, Picsart and Getty Images announced a partnership to build a custom generative AI model trained on licensed content for commercial use within Picsart tools.[48]

type	Private
industry	Software; Internet; Graphic design; Artificial intelligence
founded	November 2011 in Yerevan, Armenia
hq location	Miami, Florida, United States.
founders	Hovhannes Avoyan Artavazd Mehrabyan Mikayel Vardanyan
key people	Hovhannes Avoyan (CEO) Artavazd Mehrabyan (CTO) Mikayel Vardanyan (CPO)
products	Web editor; iOS and Android apps; templates library; generative AI tools; photo and video editors
website	https://picsart.com
members	150 million monthly active users
num employees	1,374 (2024)
equity	$1.5 billion

Usage

Products and features

Design templates

Generative AI and automation

Photo and video editing

Enterprise and developer offerings

Platform and community

Developer platform

Funding

History

2011–2014

2015–2017

2018–2020

2021–2022

2023–present

See also

External links

References