PicsArt, the world’s largest visual creative platform, today announced that it has acquired advanced video effects company D’efekt for an undisclosed sum. The female-led startup has been featured as an Apple “App of the Day” various times and offers motion-based video effects – including light illusions, music responsiveness, and fractal motion-activation. D’efekt’s three co-founders will continue to build the independent app with further resource investment from PicsArt.
“We’ve known the D’efekt team for more than a year. We’re thrilled they’ll be joining us as we continue to build the creative platform of the future,” said Hovhannes Avoyan, founder and CEO of PicsArt. “We see this deal as a win for everyone: Our millions of creators now have access to even more amazing video special effects, the D’efekt founders have support to build on their initial successes, and PicsArt is able to add more creative and technical talent to our tech-majority global team.”
The D’efekt app—which will be rebranded to include the PicsArt name over the next few weeks—adds to PicsArt’s suite of powerful visual editing apps, including the all-in-one PicsArt photo and video-editing app on web and mobile. D’efekt turns users’ videos into works of art through world-class audio reactivity, object detection, and interactive objects. With just one tap, users can apply motion effects to a single person, multiple people, or an object, as well as make edits strictly to their video’s background. This multimedia addition builds on PicsArt’s recent integration with generative AI music, which produces unique audio matching soundtracks to user videos based on genre, mood, and more.
A U.S. company with its team based in Armenia, D’efekt is the brainchild of three creatives, where handcrafted design meets cutting-edge engineering: Vahagn Kachikyan, Nané Toumanian, and Tatevik Gasparyan. Together, the highly collaborative team brings its deep artistic mindset and seasoned design talent to influence PicsArt’s visual effects, as the platform’s viral videos continue to feed into platforms like TikTok and Instagram. The D’efekt app is available immediately for free in the iOS App Store.
“It’s an honor to join PicsArt, a company we’ve followed from its inception. We’re looking forward to having D’efekt become part of a brand with incredible creative tools, content, and a passionate community,” said Nané Toumanian, CEO and co-founder of D’efekt. “We can’t wait to see our app go out to hundreds of millions of people, making best-in-class video effects accessible to an entire generation of visual storytellers.”
About PicsArt
PicsArt is the world’s #1 creative platform and social editing app that’s leading the visual storytelling revolution. Every month, the PicsArt community creates, remixes and shares billions of visual stories using the company’s powerful and easy-to-use editing tools. PicsArt has amassed one of the largest open-source content collections in the world, including free-to-edit photos, stickers, backgrounds, templates and more. PicsArt is available in 30 languages for free and as a subscription on iOS, Android and Windows devices. Headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Yerevan, Armenia; Moscow; Beijing; Tokyo; and Los Angeles, PicsArt is backed by Sequoia Capital, DCM Ventures, Insight Venture Partners, and Siguler Guff and Company. Download the app now or visit picsart.com or picsart.com/brands/ for more information.
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