TMCnet News
Exceeding Half a Billion Monthly Views, the GIF Keyboard from Riffsy Raises $3.5M Led by Redpoint VenturesSAN FRANCISCO --(Business Wire)-- Riffsy (www.riffsy.com), a mobile app company enabling people to find, create and seamlessly share animated GIFs, today announced that it has raised $3.5 million in seed funding led by Redpoint Ventures. The funding will support growth of the product and build the self-expression network around motion. GIF Keyboard aims to make sharing GIFs as ubiquitous as sharing emoji, across every connected personal device. To date, Riffsy has passed 500 million monthly GIF views. Riffsy enables frictionless sharing though convenient search, discovery, and single-tap sharing of GIFs across social platforms like Twitter (News - Alert) and Facebook, and iMessage and text messaging. By tagging GIFs into categories, users can search millions of GIFs to find the one that perfectly expresses a feeling, emotion or moment. By adding GIFs to communication, or by making them the primary means of communication through many GIFs featuring audio, people can have endless fun and enhance their connections with friends, family and coworkers. In September 2014, Riffsy launched the GIF Kyboard for iPhone (News - Alert) allowing users to text, iMessage, Tweet and email millions of animated GIFs right from their keyboard. Since launch, Riffsy has experienced rapid growth and engagement, including 1 million downloads in its first three weeks. Users open GIF Keyboard an average of nine times per day, share five GIFs per day and there are millions of sessions each day on Riffsy. "Redpoint Ventures is a perfect partner as we continue to grow our business," said David McIntosh, founder and CEO of Riffsy. "The Redpoint team brings unparalleled expertise in building strong and recognized mobile networks and consumer brands, and we look forward to working closely with them as we further develop our products and build the largest expression network." "We're very impressed with the growth of Riffsy's GIF Keyboard and the substantial leadership position they have staked out in a few short weeks since it launched," said Redpoint Ventures partner Chris Moore. "Riffsy is already changing how people express themselves, and we look forward to working closely with them to help execute their vision of making motion a central part of how people communicate within and across their networks." Riffsy is available for free download on the Apple (News - Alert) Store by clicking here. About Riffsy Riffsy is the mobile company behind GIF Keyboard for iPhone, an app that allows users to text, iMessage, Tweet and email millions of animated GIFs right from their keyboard. Riffsy was founded in 2014 and is backed by Redpoint Ventures, Initial Capital, and John Riccitiello. About Redpoint Ventures Since 1999, the Redpoint team has been partnering with visionary founders who create new markets or redefine existing ones. From the earliest stages, we have supported HomeAway, Fortinet, Heroku, Netflix, TiVo (News - Alert), Juniper, RightMedia, Zimbra, LifeSize, among many others, helping them transform their industries.
|
