Company:PicsArt Photo Studio

From HandWiki
Short description: Image editing, collage and drawing application and a social network
PicsArt
TypePrivate company
IndustryInternet
FoundedJanuary 2, 2012
FounderHovhannes Avoyan, Artavazd Mehrabyan, Mikayel Vardanyan
Headquarters
San Francisco, California Yerevan, Armenia
Key people
Hovhannes Avoyan, Artavazd Mehrabyan, Mikayel Vardanyan, Wilson Kriegel, Chris Gard, DerHartunian, Jeff Roberto, Alex Cuthbert.
ProductsSocial image editing app
Number of employees
400
Websitepicsart.com

PicsArt is an image editing, collage and drawing application and a social network. PicsArt enables users to take and edit pictures, draw with layers, and share their images with the PicsArt community and on other networks like Facebook and Instagram. The app is available on iOS, Android, and Windows mobile devices.[1] It is also available on PCs running Windows 8.1 or higher.[2] The company has received more than $45 million in venture funding from Sequoia Capital, Insight Venture Partners, and others.[3] [4][5][6]

History

PicsArt was launched on Monday January 2, 2009 on Android devices.[7] It was founded by Armenian programers Hovhannes Avoyan and Artavazd Mehrabyan.[8] The app was downloaded 35 million times during its first year.[7][9]

PicsArt for iOS was released in January 2013 for the iPhone.[10] In May of the same year, it was released for the iPad.[11] The app had nearly 2 million unique daily users and 4 million registered users by January 2013.[7] In November 2013, two years after its launch, PicsArt had reached 90 million installs and had nearly 25 million monthly active users. In December 2013, PicsArt became available for Windows Phone devices.[12]

In January 2014, PicsArt became available on devices supporting Windows 8. By March, the app reached 100 million installs on Android, 30 million active users, 60,000 images uploaded every day, and had a community of over 11 million users. In June 2014, PicsArt was released for all Windows 8.1 PCs, devices, and tablets.[13] When the app celebrated its three-year anniversary, it had 175 million installs, 50 million monthly users, and had 18.5 million users in the social network.[14] In 2015, the company launched an educational program on machine learning and data science in Armenia. Since then, more than 400 students have graduated the program and 50 of them were hired by the company. [15]

In 2016 PicsArt reached 75 million monthly active users.[16] It continued to introduce new features including a remix galleries,[17] a redesigned camera,[18] personalization features and other improvements across iOS, Android and Windows devices.

In 2017, PicsArt launched Remix chat, a messaging system where users can share images directly or in groups and edit them collectively with friends. [19]The company also launched community-powered stickers that allow users to make their own custom stickers, and discover share other user-created stickers for free. PicsArt also announced that it reached 90 million monthly active users. [20] Natalia Vodianova, a supermodel and philanthropist, joined the PicsArt team to inspire the community to remix and create images on important social topics. [21] In October 2017, the company hit the 100M monthly active users milestone and announced the strategy of partnerships with major consumer brands.[22] In March 2019, PicsArt reached 130M monthly active users and shared that more than 50% of its employees are female. [23]

References

  1. Graham, Jefferson. "Scribble on your pics with versatile PicsArt photo editor". USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/talkingtech/2014/03/01/talking-tech-picsart-studio-app-review/5826921/. Retrieved 15 January 2016. 
  2. Saleem, Hammad (2001-11-30). "PicsArt is an excellent and popular photo editing app for Windows 8.1". WinBeta. http://www.winbeta.org/news/picsart-excellent-photo-editing-app-windows-81. Retrieved 15 January 2016. 
  3. "Picsart, A Photo Editing App With 200M Downloads, Lands $10M From Sequoia". https://techcrunch.com/2015/02/05/picsart-10-million. 
  4. "PicsArt Raises $15M To Build A Community Around Photo Editing". https://techcrunch.com/2015/06/04/picsart-raises-15m-to-build-a-community-around-photo-editing. 
  5. "Photo app PicsArt gets $20M to grow its user base in Asia". https://techcrunch.com/2016/04/20/picsart-asia. 
  6. "Picsart, a mobile photo-editing app, to raise $15 million". http://fortune.com/2015/04/13/picsart-raises-15-million. 
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Perez, Sarah. "After Reaching 35 Million Downloads In Its First Year, Top Android Photo Editing App PicsArt Arrives On iPhone". https://techcrunch.com/2013/01/03/after-reaching-35-million-downloads-in-its-first-year-top-android-photo-editing-app-picsart-arrives-on-iphone/. 
  8. "Press Kit - PicsArt". http://picsart.com/press-kit. 
  9. "Finding The Art In Building A Business". https://www.fastcompany.com/3008477/finding-art-building-business/. 
  10. "PicsArt Earns Triple Crown with iPhone Launch | Business Wire". http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130107005469/en/PicsArt-Earns-Triple-Crown-iPhone-Launch. 
  11. "PicsArt Launches Optimized App for iPad and Enhances its iOS Features | Business Wire". http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130514006687/en/PicsArt-Launches-Optimized-App-iPad-Enhances-iOS. 
  12. "PicsArt: Popular + Free Photo Editor Now Available on the Windows Phone | WP7 Connect". http://www.wp7connect.com/2013/12/31/picsart-popular-free-photo-editor-now-available-on-the-windows-phone/. 
  13. "PicsArt is an excellent and popular photo editing app for Windows 8.1" (in en-US). http://www.winbeta.org/news/picsart-excellent-photo-editing-app-windows-81. 
  14. "PicsArt Reaches 1 Install on 3rd Anniversary". http://blog.picsart.com/post/picsart-175-million-installs-3rd-anniversary. 
  15. "Machine Learning Is Creating A Demand For New Skills". https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2017/06/26/machine-learning-is-creating-a-demand-for-new-skills/#560511747ae2. 
  16. "San Francisco-based photo editing app PicsArt will use $20M funding round for Asia expansion - Silicon Valley Business Journal". http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/techflash/2016/04/photo-editing-apppicsart-will-use-20m-funding.html. 
  17. "Remix Galleries: A New Way to Get Inspired & Create Amazing Images" (in en-US). 2016-05-09. https://picsart.com/blog/post/remix-galleries/. 
  18. "PicsArt Has a New Camera...Because Better Pictures Are More Fun - Create + Discover the Art of Photo Editing - PicsArt" (in en-US). 2016-02-11. https://picsart.com/blog/post/picsart-has-a-new-camera-because-better-pictures-are-more-fun/. 
  19. "Edit. Share. Repeat. PicsArt adds new chat feature to encourage remixing photos". http://www.digitaltrends.com/photography/picsart-adds-remix-chat. 
  20. "PicsArt's custom stickers (and export option) could make basic effects look boring". http://www.digitaltrends.com/photography/picsart-custom-stickers. 
  21. "Natalia Vodianova Joins PicsArt As The Head Of Aspiration". https://www.musttechnews.com/natalia-vodianova-picsart-head-aspiration/. 
  22. "Creative-focused app PicsArt hits 100M MAUs". https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/31/creative-focused-app-picsart-hits-100m-maus-attracting-brands-tired-of-trolls/. 
  23. "PicsArt hits 130 million MAUs as Chinese flock to its photo-editing app" (in en-US). http://social.techcrunch.com/2019/03/20/picsart-china/.