Looksery

Looksery
Private
Industry Imagery software
Genre facial detection, tracking and transformation
Founded 2013 (2013)
Founders

Victor Shaburov (co-founder, President)

Yurii Monastyrshin (co-founder, COO)
Headquarters San Francisco, USA
Key people

Victor Shaburov (co-founder, President)
Yurii Monastyrshin (co-founder, COO)
Alex Grytsiuk (CTO)
Julie Krasnienko (Marketing and Business Development Director)

Lidiya Bogdanovych (Head of Design)
Number of employees
 45
Website www.looksery.com

Looksery is an American company based in San Francisco. The company developed the Looksery application that does facial modification of photos in real time on mobile platforms.[1][2]

The company has offices in USA, Ukraine and Russia.[3] It was acquired by Snapchat in September 2015.[4]

History

Victor Shaburov founded Looksery company in 2013 in San Francisco. Shaburov was sponsoring a programming contest in Ukraine, which Yurii Monastyrshin won twice in succession. Victor offered him to be co-founder in the startup. In 2014, offices were established in Odessa, Ukraine and Sochi, Russia.[5][6] Later, the company launched a Kickstarter campaign in order to raise funds,[7] [8] and exceeded their fundraising goal.[9]

In September 2015, Looksery was acquired by Snapchat for $150 million,[10] marking the biggest startup acquisition in Ukraine’s history. Snapchat used the Looksery technology to launch a new feature, Lenses.[5]

Application

Before Snapchat's acquisition, Looksery was available as a stand-alone application for iOS and Android.[11] Looksery’s mobile application enabled users to simulate their appearance for a photo or video chat in real-time.[12] Additionally, users could share photos and videos through popular social networks and messengers.[13] When Snapchat launched its product, Lenses, Looksery was withdrawn as a stand-alone product.[4][13][14]

Reception

Looksery garnered a lot of media attention.[15][16][17] Vogue selected Looksery as one of the ten Best Apps of 2014 and wrote that "it’s truly addictive and instantly fills you with the childlike energy and creativity of playing make-believe".[18] TechCrunch called it "a clever application that let's you change your facial features..."[19] and Inc. wrote that "[it] is an example of technology that may make it more easy for camera-shy folks to sit through live video calls or take pictures in the future."[20]

Awards

In 2014, Looksery won the Best Innovative Startup Award at the SVOD annual conference in Silicon Valley.[21]

References

  1. ↑ "This Year Halloween Has Its Own Selfie App". Huffington Post. October 31, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Generation Selfie And How Entrepreneurs Are Cashing In".
  3. ↑ "Startup Looksery aims to beautify your selfie videos". CNET.
  4. 1 2 "Snapchat Acquires Looksery To Power Its Animated Lenses".
  5. 1 2 "Deal of the Year: Snapchat buys Ukrainian startup Looksery for USD 150 mln". UA Today. September 16, 2015.
  6. ↑ Mooney, Paula (July 8, 2014). "Create game characters who look like you with Looksery". Venture Beat.
  7. ↑ Perez, Sarah (June 4, 2014). "Looksery Launches On Kickstarter With An App That Makes You Look Better (Or Just Funnier) On Video Chat". TechCrunch.
  8. ↑ "The next big Kickstarter success story?: ‘Video selfie’ app Looksery passes its $30K funding goal with 23 days still to go".
  9. ↑ Sheremeta, Bozhena (September 16, 2015). "Snapchat buys Looksery in reported $150 million deal, making it biggest acquisition of Ukraine tech player". Kyiv Post.
  10. ↑ "Snapchat buys Looksery, a 2-year-old startup that lets you Photoshop your face while you video chat".
  11. ↑ "Video beautification app Looksery reaches Android too".
  12. ↑ "Startup Looksery aims to beautify your selfie videos".
  13. 1 2 Shontell, Alyson (September 15, 2015). "Snapchat buys Looksery, a 2-year-old startup that lets you Photoshop your face while you video chat". Business Insider.
  14. ↑ "Create game characters who look like you with Looksery".
  15. ↑ Shankland, Stephen (February 24, 2015). "Video beautification app Looksery reaches Android too". CNET.
  16. ↑ Hendricks, Drew (October 30, 2014). "Generation Selfie And How Entrepreneurs Are Cashing In". Forbes.
  17. ↑ O’Callaghan, Jonathan (June 9, 2014). "Why the WRONG face? App uses real-time facial tracking to transform your appearance during live video calls". DailyMail.
  18. ↑ "From Face-Morphing to Speed-Reading, the 10 Best Apps of 2014".
  19. ↑ "Looksery Launches On Kickstarter With An App That Makes You Look Better (Or Just Funnier) On Video Chat".
  20. ↑ Boitnott, John (July 30, 2014). "Looksery Wants You to Accept That Live Video Call". Inc.
  21. ↑ J. Roethig, Benjamin (June 20, 2014). "Looksery Effects App Wins Startup Award at SVOD’14 Conference". GeekBeat.
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