Tbilisi-based adtech startup KLIPY has secured $1.2 million in a seed funding round to expand globally and onboard new apps, as Vestbee was told. Sturgeon Capital and Caucasus Ventures supported the round.
- Founded in 2021 by Givi Beridze and Waska Chaduneli, KLIPY develops an API that allows apps to integrate and monetize GIFs, stickers, memes, and AI-generated content.
- The platform provides a library of over 15 million animated assets, enabling messaging, social, dating, keyboard, and media apps to incorporate engaging visual content.
- KLIPY, based in Tbilisi and San Francisco, places ads between GIFs and stickers using direct and programmatic advertising. It processes 4 billion monthly requests with low server costs, offering a scalable monetization solution for apps.
“KLIPY is proving that short-form media, like GIFs, stickers, and memes, is much more than entertainment – it’s a billion-dollar business. And we aren’t just monetizing it; we’re reinventing how people create and communicate by bringing generative AI directly into the platforms they already use every day," explains Givi Beridze, co-founder and CEO at KLIPY.
- In 2022, KLIPY, which was known as KIKLIKO, raised a $100,000 pre-seed round led by Presto Ventures. The funding allowed the development of its GIF-hosting platform.
“Presto backed Givi, Waska, and their talented team early on, betting on their bold vision to disrupt the GIF industry – an ecosystem with massive usage but zero revenue for social platforms and messaging apps. No one had cracked this challenge, until now. It’s great to see their game-changing, win-win solution gaining strong traction in the market," Vojta Rocek, Partner at Presto Ventures, commented.
Details of the deal
- The seed funding round was backed by Sturgeon Capital, a London-based venture capital firm, Caucasus Ventures from Baku, and notable business angels, including Tim Wagner, who invested in OpenAI, Stripe, and Calm.
- KLIPY will use the fresh seed funding to expand globally, onboard new apps, and further develop its technology infrastructure to support increased demand and scalability. The funding will help optimize its monetization platform and improve the efficiency of its ad-serving technology.
