Israel digital media company, Cloudinary, which provides a cloud-based image management service, is one of the most popular of its kind, especially among larger companies and media outlets. The service allows users to simply share and manage their images, as well as easily send them to other websites and apps.
$2B unicorn club
According to CB Insights, there are currently 1,000 private enterprises worth a billion dollars or more throughout the world. Cloudinary, the nine-year-old firm announced on today a secondary investment from funds managed by Blackstone Growth (the growth equity arm of investment firm Blackstone) reaching a sum of $100 million at a company valuation of $2 billion. Blackstone’s investment follows three previous secondary rounds, by Salesforce Ventures in 2020 and Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) in 2018 and 2015. The proceeds will be used to purchase some shares held by the cloud company’s workers and founders.
Now headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Cloudinary recently also acquired Indivio, an innovative video software company that enables marketing teams to tap into the fast-growing video market by delivering hyper-personalized movies at scale that are customised in real-time for each target demographic.
“This investment marks an important milestone for all of us here at Cloudinary,” said Co-founder and CEO Itai Lahan. “We are excited to be partnering with Blackstone at this stage in our business, and look forward to accelerating our growth and making it even easier for our customers to unleash the full potential of their visual media.”
“Remarkably, and somewhat quietly behind the scenes, Cloudinary powers the websites and apps that millions engage with every day,” said Ramzi Ramsey, Managing Director at Blackstone Growth. “We are very excited to support the next phase of growth for this tremendous company which is playing a critical role as more and more businesses emphasise digital media and their online experiences.”
With its algorithms scanning between 500 and 2,000 pieces of content each second, the company employs artificial intelligence to propose the best way to convey visual material to attract people’s attention. These abilities are crucial in gaining the trust of both CIOs and marketers.
Cloudinary mission
Founded by Itai Lahan, Nadav Soferman and Tal Lev-Ami in 2012, Cloudinary provides cloud-based image and video management services. It allows users to upload, store, manage, manipulate, and deliver images and video for websites and apps.
The platform is the industry standard for developers, producers, and marketers wanting to store, transform, and deliver photos and videos online, with 60 billion assets under management and approximately 10,000 customers globally. As a result, major companies such as Atlassian, Bleacher Report, Bombas, Grubhub, Hinge, NBC, Mediavine, Minted, Peloton, and Petco experience significant commercial benefits from Cloudinary, such as faster time to market, improved user satisfaction, and increased engagement and conversions.
Further, Cloudinary competes with the likes of Adobe, Brandfolder, Widen Collective, Twilio, and Canto.
Despite the fact that no further acquisitions are planned, Cloudinary is eager to uncover new prospects. Virtual and augmented reality, as well as blockchain applications and non-fungible currencies, are among the areas it’s keeping an eye on.
To know more about the hottest Israeli companies to watch in 2020, check out this article from TFN!
