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Facetune maker Lightricks has laid off 12% of its staff and is reducing 'marketing and operations spending'

Charli D'Amelio
TikTok star Charli D'Amelio and her family are strategic advisors for Lightricks. Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images

  • Lightricks is the latest creator economy startup to be impacted by layoffs.
  • The startup owns several photo and video editing apps such as Facetune.
  • The company has raised $335 million and was valued at $1.8 billion.
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Lightricks, the startup behind the popular photo editing app Facetune, laid off 80 staffers this month, the company confirmed to Insider.

The layoffs accounted for about 12% of the company and impacted employees across tech, product, and marketing teams, the company said.

"Due to the continued constriction of the global economy, Lightricks has decided to prepare the company for long-term success by reducing cash spend while managing current revenue and investments without needing additional external funding in the short-term," the company said in a statement. "This plan includes reductions in marketing and operations spending and the restructuring of staff models. While difficult to make, these changes allow Lightricks to focus on specific projects that will accelerate the transformation from toolmaker to a comprehensive platform for content creators."

The startup owns 11 photo and video editing apps including Facetune, TikTok editing app Videoleap, and a link-in-bio tool.

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Lightricks has raised $335 million in total capital, and was valued at $1.8 billion in September when it raised $130 million in Series D funding, TechCrunch reported.

In March, the startup acquired Popular Pays, a Chicago-based software company that connects brands with creators. 30 Popular Pays' employees joined Lightricks, and its CEO Corbett Drummey became the vice president of brand collaboration at the company, Axios reported.

Lightricks is primarily based in Jerusalem, and Axios reported in March the company had over 550 employees across five offices.

In February, TikTok's second-most-followed creator Charli D'Amelio and her family announced an investment in the company, and that they would become strategic advisors for the startup. The family has promoted the app and its video editing tools across their social-media channels. 

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Lightricks is one of a few creator economy startups to have layoffs in recent months. In June, text message startup Community laid off about 40 staffers, creator economy startup Jellysmack laid off 8% of its staff, and newsletter platform Substack laid off 14% of staffers. Celebrity shout-out platform Cameo also laid off 87 staffers in May

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