Lightricks
Israeli app maker behind Facetune, now splitting off its LTX-2 AI video model unit.
On the record
Checkpoint: LTX entity attempts to close a new funding round after its split from the consumer app business
The call
Lightricks is splitting a shrinking consumer app business from an unproven AI video model business, with no new outside capital since 2021.
Lightricks makes apps that let people edit and create videos. It built its own AI video model called LTX-2, but better-funded competitors like Google and Kling are making more advanced versions that perform better in tests. The company has cut its workforce in half since 2022, stopped funding its consumer apps, and split itself in two to focus on selling AI video to businesses, which is a much harder market to crack since Google not only competes with them but also rents them the cloud computers they run on. The real question is whether Lightricks can raise new money at a decent price and prove its AI model can compete when Google, Amazon, and Chinese companies are all pouring billions into the same technology.
Why
01
AI pressure: Google Veo, Kuaishou Kling 3.5, Runway Gen-4.5. Lightricks built its own video model, LTX-2, but it trails Veo 3.1 and Kling 3.5 on public benchmarks. Could AI do the core job? Yes, likely.
02
Bigger players: Google. Google runs Veo, owns YouTube distribution, and supplies the cloud infrastructure LTX-2 trains on: competitor and landlord at once. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. A real subscriber base and roughly $250M ARR from Facetune-era apps still funds the pivot to AI video.
What would change this call
Standalone LTX entity closes or fails to close a priced funding round by mid-2027. Shows whether investors still value the AI-video spinoff near or above 2021's $1.8B mark.
LTX-2 benchmark ranking versus Veo 3.1, Kling 3.5, Runway Gen-4.5 through late 2026. Shows whether Lightricks is closing or falling further behind on model quality.
A fifth round of layoffs at Lightricks or LTX after the ~75 cut in mid-2026. Would show continued financial strain despite the restructuring split.
LTX-2 benchmark ranking versus Veo 3.1, Kling 3.5, Runway Gen-4.5 through late 2026. Shows whether Lightricks is closing or falling further behind on model quality.
A fifth round of layoffs at Lightricks or LTX after the ~75 cut in mid-2026. Would show continued financial strain despite the restructuring split.
Key numbers
- ~$250M ARR reported
- ~$150M internal funding routed to LTX since 2024
- $1.8B valuation at last funding round
Named risks
- No new external funding raised since 2021 Series D despite active enterprise pivot.
- Four rounds of layoffs since 2022 have roughly halved headcount to ~350 by June 2026.
- Google is simultaneously LTX-2's cloud infrastructure supplier and its direct Veo competitor.
- LTX-2 trails Veo 3.1 and Kling 3.5 on independent benchmark rankings as of Oct 2025.
- Federal Circuit affirmed a patent-infringement judgment against Lightricks (Plotagraph case), Jan 2024.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Google (Veo 3.1) | losing to | Artificial Analysis ranked LTX-2 behind Veo 3.1 on image-to-video benchmarks, Oct 2025 |
| Kuaishou Kling 3.5 | losing to | Kling 3.5 ranked ahead of LTX-2 on Artificial Analysis benchmarks, Oct 2025 |
| Runway Gen-4.5 | losing to | Runway Gen-4.5 launched late 2025 with top Elo scores on Artificial Analysis text-to-video board |
| OpenAI Sora | gaining on | OpenAI shut down Sora as a standalone consumer app on March 24, 2026 |
Questions people ask
- Is Lightricks profitable in 2026?
- No profitability figure is disclosed. Lightricks reported roughly $250M ARR as of July 2025 while simultaneously cutting 75 jobs in June 2026 and splitting its consumer app and AI-video units, suggesting cost pressure rather than confirmed profit.
- Has Lightricks laid off workers recently?
- Yes. Lightricks cut 85 jobs (15% of staff) in October 2025 and another 75 jobs (17% of remaining staff) in June 2026 alongside a corporate split, shrinking headcount from a 2022 peak of ~680-700 to about 350.
- Could AI replace Lightricks' Facetune app?
- Lightricks itself is winding down consumer-app investment because phone-native AI editing (Google Photos, Instagram, Canva) is commoditizing selfie/photo editing, per Calcalist reporting on its 2024 layoffs tied to this shift.
- Who owns Lightricks?
- Lightricks remains privately held and VC-backed, last valued at $1.8B in its September 2021 Series D ($130M, led by Insight Partners and Hanaco Venture Capital). No acquisition or IPO has occurred, and no new funding round has been reported since 2021.
- Who is Lightricks' biggest competitor in AI video?
- Google is Lightricks' most structurally dangerous rival: Veo 3.1 outranked LTX-2 on Artificial Analysis benchmarks in October 2025, while Google Cloud simultaneously supplies the compute infrastructure LTX-2 was trained on.
- Did Lightricks raise new funding to build LTX-2?
- No external round has been disclosed since the 2021 Series D. Reuters reported (Feb 2026) that LTX received about $150M in internal funding from parent Lightricks since its 2024 founding, not a new priced VC round.
Timeline
- 2026-06-01Lightricks cuts 75 jobs (17% of staff) while formally splitting Facetune and LTX into two entities
- 2026-03LTX-2.3 released with desktop editor enabling local, on-device model runs
- 2026-02-23Reuters reports Lightricks splitting consumer apps from LTX generative-video unit
- 2026-01-06Lightricks fully open-sources LTX-2 weights, training code, and benchmarks
- 2025-10-27Lightricks cuts 85 jobs (15% of staff), leaving ~450-465 employees, hires 30 AI specialists
- 2025-10LTX-2 launches with native 4K, synced audio/video, up to 50fps; ranks 3rd behind Veo 3.1 and Kling 3.5
- 2025-05-06LTXV-13B launched, claimed 30x faster than comparable video models
- 2024-12Shutterstock content-licensing deal signed to supply LTX training data
- 2024-02LTX Studio, an AI video-generation and storyboarding platform, launched
- 2021-09-22Series D closes at $130M, led by Insight Partners and Hanaco, at $1.8B valuation
Revision history
24 July 2026
First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- Lightricks Raises $130M Series D (2021-09-22)
- Lightricks to split into two companies as it cuts another 75 jobs (2026-06-01)
- Facetune creator Lightricks to split into two units (2026-02-23)
- Lightricks cuts 15% of workforce while expanding AI team (2025-10-27)
- Lightricks Ltd Company Profile (2024-03-14)
- $80.7M ARR, $1.8B Valuation (2025-11-27)
- Lightricks splits Facetune from its AI video unit (2026-06-06)
- Lightricks
- App developer Lightricks lays off 70 in Israel (2022-04-07)
- Unicorn Lightricks cutting 12% of workforce in second round of layoffs (2024-07-01)
- LTX (text-to-video model)
- Lightricks Launches 13B Parameters LTX Video Model (2025-05-06)