Giphy, a US-based search engine and sharing platform for animated GIF files, secured $17m yesterday in a series B round featuring CAA Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of talent agency Creative Arts Agency.
General Catalyst, Betaworks, RRE Ventures and Lerer Hippeau Ventures also participated in the round, which was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. The funding valued Giphy at $80m, according to Business Insider.
Giphy previously received $2.4m in a May 2014 series A round backed by CAA Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, RRE and Betaworks. An additional $100,000 was raised from private investors via Betaworks’ crowdfunding platform Alphaworks.
The company also secured $1m in seed funding from Betaworks in February 2013 when it graduated from its incubator. It will use the series B funding to support growth, expand its services and hire more staff.
Alex Chung, chief executive of Giphy, said: “GIFs are a dynamic form of media built for the internet generation; they add context and entertainment to static information. We believe GIFs are foundational to the future of communication and Giphy is creating the comprehensive framework for this new cultural vocabulary.”