San Francisco-based motion graphics platform for developers and designers, LottieFiles, has picked up $37 million in Series B funding. The financing round was led by Square Peg Capital that recently invested in Neuron Mobility alongside additional participation from XYZ Venture Capital, GreatPoint Ventures, and existing investors, 500 Startups and M12, Microsoft’s Venture Fund.
Key takeaways
LottieFiles will use the proceeds of this round to further develop its product roadmap, and expand its operations to cater to the expanding user base. Also, the company plans to launch a new design workflow and collaboration solution to its global user base in summer 2022, which will enable designers to save over 15 hours per asset shipped and give users 80% more time to focus on creativity.
Back in January 2021, the startup secured $9 million in Series A funding. Also, it experienced 160% growth in net new registered users since that time.
“Our mission is to democratise motion design and graphics animation and make it accessible to all,” said LottieFiles’ CEO and co-founder, Kshitij Minglani. “LottieFiles completely transforms the creation and design workflow process, which empowers every designer and their teams to leverage the power of motion to create delightful user experiences. The LottieFiles team spent the last three years studying and perfecting a blueprint that now works for design and developer teams from more than 135,000 companies. We are excited to bring LottieFiles into offering this year and grow our user base even more.”
“We are excited to work with LottieFiles and be a part of the journey as they build best-in-class standards for the global animation industry,” said Piruze Sabuncu, Partner at Square Peg Capital. “LottieFiles plays into the theme that the future of design is in motion as digital engagement increasingly revolves around interactivity. We have been impressed with the fast-growing LottieFiles community all over the world from the biggest tech companies to individual designers.”
What is Lottie?
A majority of the most-downloaded apps, popular websites and platforms right now use the open-source vector-based file format, Lottie. It is a JSON animation file format that enables designers to ship animations on any platform as easily as shipping static assets.
It is a small file that works on any device and can scale up or down without pixelation. It allows designers to create app onboarding and in-app animations, reactions, infographics, social media assets, animated icons, stickers, gaming assets and more.
Lottie animation adoption is growing and the key features include cross platform application and functionality, being lightweight and interactive, and the ability to play at 120 frames a second. These features make Lottie animations a perfect replacement for any conventional format, be it GIF or PNG sequences.
Before Lottie, motion designers were creating their animations and passing them over to software developers for implementation. Also, options for implementation were poor and limited.
What does LottieFiles do?
Founded by Kshitij Minglani and Nattu Adnan in 2017, LottieFiles is a micro animation design company that features a mobile-based platform that enables designers to share, test, and iterate micro animations. Its software platform specialises in digital art, motion graphics, web design, and app design.
Using LottieFiles, motion designers and developers can save weeks of effort by not having to code motion graphics individually for each platform.
Based in San Francisco with additional offices in Seoul and Kuala Lumpur, LottieFiles.com counts users from more than 135,000 companies worldwide, including animation designers and motion designers from Google, TikTok, Disney, Uber, Airbnb and Netflix. Also, it has integrations with the most popular design tools, including Adobe XD, Adobe After Effects, Figma, Webflow, WordPress, and more.
