Genies Valuation, Funding & Investors
Genies is valued at $1B as of April 2022.
Last Genies valuation
$1B
Series C · Apr 2022
Last Genies funding round
$150M
Series C · Apr 2022
Cumulative funding Genies raised
$267M
across 10 funding rounds
Key investors in Genies
New Enterprise Associates
Foundation Capital
CAA Ventures
Lerer Hippeau
BoxGroup
Bond
About Genies
Genies is a Los Angeles-headquartered avatar platform partnering with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group as official avatar providers for artists like Justin Bieber. Launched in 2017, it powers 100 million creator avatars via a Snapchat Lens and AR Developer Kit. The Silver Studio app enables digital fashion design and trading on iOS and Android, following a $250 million funding round in 2021 valuing it at $1 billion.
Founded
2011
HQ
Los Angeles, CAWebsite
Status
Privately held
Customer focus
B2B
Revenue model
Subscription
Valuation
$1B (Apr 2022)
Genies Valuation
Genies is currently valued at $1B, based on its Series C in April 2022.
The $150M round was led by Silver Lake, with participation from Scale-Up, New Enterprise Associates, Bond and Tamarack Global.
Genies' valuation has grown 10x from $100M at its undisclosed-stage round in December 2017 to $1B in April 2022, across 3 priced rounds.
Genies valuation by funding round
| Date | Stage | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Apr 2022 | Series C | $1B |
| Jun 2019 | Undisclosed stage | $110M |
| Dec 2017 | Undisclosed stage | $100M |
Genies Funding History
Genies has raised a total of $267M across 10 funding rounds.
Genies' first fundraising round was a $3M seed round in April 2014. The most recent completed round was a $150M Series C in April 2022.
Genies funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Valuation | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2022 | Series C | Silver Lake (lead); Scale-Up; New Enterprise Associates; Bond; Tamarack Global | $150M | $1B | Genies is an avatar technology company that enables users to create personalized avatars, fashion collections, homes, experiences, and NFTs within a Web3 ecosystem, holding a 99% share of the celebrity avatar market. The company partners with major music labels like Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group as their official avatar and digital goods NFT provider, and operates 'The Warehouse' NFT marketplace with Dapper Labs for creators to sell avatar items. On April 12, 2022, Genies raised a $150 million Series C funding round led by Silver Lake, with participation from existing investors BOND, NEA, and Tamarack Global, achieving a $1 billion post-money valuation and unicorn status. This followed a $65 million Series B in May 2021 and earlier rounds totaling over $100 million previously. The funds aim to accelerate product development in avatar universe technology, expand the engineering team, roll out mass avatar creator tools, and scale the immersive ecosystem globally. Genies, founded in 2017 and based in Los Angeles, positions itself at the intersection of culture, digital assets, identity, and Web3, with CEO Akash Nigam emphasizing avatar ecosystems' role in shaping Web3 like mobile apps defined Web2. The company targets Gen Z creators for innovation in metaverse adoption and has attracted high-profile support, including former Disney CEO Bob Iger on its board. Investors like Silver Lake's Egon Durban highlight Genies' leadership in enabling human expression through avatars. |
| May 2021 | Series B | Bond (lead) | $65M | - | Genies is a Los Angeles-based avatar technology company that creates customizable digital avatars, initially for celebrities like Justin Bieber, Cardi B, Shawn Mendes, Rihanna, and J Balvin, and has expanded to user-generated content and NFT marketplaces. In May 2021, it raised $65 million in a Series B round led by Bond (Mary Meeker's firm), with participation from NEA, Breyer Capital, Tull Investment Group, NetEase, Dapper Labs, and Coinbase Ventures. The round was reportedly 6-8X oversubscribed, and Mary Meeker joined the board. The funding supported Genies' pivot toward NFTs and blockchain, including launching an NFT platform on Dapper Labs' Flow blockchain for trading avatar accessories, with backend support from Dapper Labs. Partnerships with celebrities aimed to enable mass buying and trading of digital goods, similar to Dapper Labs' NBA Top Shot model. Genies also announced a Gucci brand partnership in October prior, opening new market opportunities in fashion and digital wearables. Genies emphasized remaining an avatar company primarily, not an NFT startup, while viewing crypto-backed digital goods as a long-term trend. Post-round plans included expanding the team to over 100 employees and growing its marketplaces. By this point, Genies had raised over $100 million total, positioning it to capitalize on the metaverse and digital identity trends without needing immediate further funding. In April 2022, a $150 million Series C led by Silver Lake valued Genies at $1 billion post-money, achieving unicorn status. |
| Nov 2020 | Seed | BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment (021 Fund) (lead); Bossa Invest | $3M | - | Genies is an AI avatar and 3D animation company enabling users and developers to create immersive, personalized avatars for apps, games, and social media platforms. In November 2020, the company raised $3 million in Series A funding led by BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment's 021 Fund. The company later achieved unicorn status following a $150 million Series C round led by Silver Lake in April 2022, reaching a $1 billion valuation. Genies has secured partnerships with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group and holds a strong position in the celebrity avatar market with expansion into Web3 and NFT experiences. |
| Jun 2019 | Undisclosed stage | Breyer Capital (lead); Tull Investment Group (lead); New Enterprise Associates; Victor Oladipo; L Catterton; Yoshiki Hayashi | $25M | $110M | Genies, formerly Blend Systems, develops a mobile app for creating personalized 3D avatars used on social media and licensed to third-party app developers, backed by talent agencies CAA and Management 360. In June 2019, the company raised $25.2M led by Breyer Capital and Tull Investment Group to expand market presence and enhance product offerings. This followed a $10M round in November 2018 from NEA, Tull Investment Group, and individual investors including celebrities, and a $15M extension around mid-2019 involving L Catterton, NEA, Tull, Breyer Capital (Jim Breyer), Yoshiki, and Victor Oladipo, bringing total funding over $39M at that point. The company continued raising funds, including $3M in November 2020 led by BANDAI NAMCO and later Series B ($65M in May 2021) with Bond, Breyer Capital, NEA, and Tull, followed by Series C ($150M in April 2022) reaching unicorn status at $1B valuation. Cumulative funding exceeded $266M across 14 rounds by 2022 from over 56 investors. |
| Nov 2018 | Series A | Lerer Hippeau; Shawn Mendes; BoxGroup; New Enterprise Associates; The Chainsmokers; Carmelo Anthony; Bernard Moon; A$AP Rocky; Foundation Capital; Joe Montana; CAA Ventures; Curtis Jackson | $10M | - | Genies, a 3D avatar technology company, raised $10 million in November 2018 to accelerate product development and establish strategic partnerships. The round included institutional investors such as New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Tull Investment Group, alongside a notable group of celebrity and athlete investors including A$AP Rocky, 50 Cent, Carmelo Anthony, Kyrie Irving, Richard Sherman, The Chainsmoakers, and others, plus early-stage investors Tony Robbins and Sean Rad. Founded by CEO Akash Nigam and formerly known as Blend Systems, the company had built a mobile app enabling users to create personalized avatars for social media use and was expanding to provide avatar technology licensing to third-party app developers through a software developer kit. The company was shifting strategy toward avatar-based communication features where users could chat through their avatars with keyword and sentiment reactions. Prior to this round, Genies had raised approximately $11.2 million from 2012 to 2016, and would go on to raise significantly larger rounds in subsequent years, including a $150 million Series C in April 2022 at a $1 billion valuation led by Silver Lake. |
| May 2018 | Seed | - | $2M | - | - |
| Dec 2017 | Undisclosed stage | Lerer Hippeau; Cameron Dallas; New Enterprise Associates; Justin Mateen; Charles King; Entertainment 360; Jake Paul; Foundation Capital; Russell Westbrook Enterprises; Mendes; CAA Ventures; Ndamukong Suh | $3M | $100M | - |
| May 2017 | Series A | Joe Montana (lead); MaC Venture Capital; True Capital Management; AA Sons; Al Dhow Capital; CoinFund | $300K | - | - |
| May 2015 | Series A | New Enterprise Associates (lead); Compound; Waha Capital; Red Sea Ventures; Base Ventures; Great Oaks Venture Capital; Upslope Ventures; Reshape Ventures; Foundation Capital; CAA Ventures; Saud Al Nowais | $6M | - | - |
| Apr 2014 | Seed | New Enterprise Associates (lead); Lerer Hippeau; Maveron; XG Ventures; BoxGroup; Foundation Capital; CAA Ventures; Trinity Ventures; SparkLabs Global Ventures | $3M | - | - |
Who has invested in Genies?
48 investors have backed Genies across its funding rounds, including New Enterprise Associates, Foundation Capital, CAA Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, BoxGroup and Bond.
Lead investors include Silver Lake, Bond, BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment (021 Fund), Breyer Capital, Tull Investment Group and 2 other investors.
Genies Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco, CA | 6 | Lead | Apr 2014 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 4 | Participant | Apr 2014 | |
| Los Angeles, CA | 4 | Participant | Apr 2014 | |
| New York City, NY | 3 | Participant | Apr 2014 | |
| New York City, NY | 2 | Participant | Apr 2014 | |
![](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20"><rect fill="%23e5e7eb" width="20" height="20" rx="4"/></svg>){kind=small} Joe Montana | San Francisco, CA | 2 | Lead | May 2017 |
| San Francisco, CA | 2 | Lead | May 2021 | |
| Los Angeles, CA | 1 | Lead | Jun 2019 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 1 | Lead | Jun 2019 | |
| New York City, NY | 1 | Participant | May 2015 | |
 Abu Dhabi | 1 | Participant | May 2015 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 1 | Lead | Apr 2022 | |
 Toronto | 1 | Participant | Nov 2018 | |
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Start Free TrialGenies Competitors
Genies competitors include listed companies like Cover and China Literature, and private ones like Triller, Rilla, Picsart and Smule.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles, CA | Private | - | - | $1.3B | - | |
 Japan | Publicly listed | $317M | $34M | $677M | 1.9x | |
| Abu Dhabi | Private | $40M | - | $737M | 18.4x | |
| Miami, FL | Private | $100M | - | $1.5B | 15.0x | |
| San Francisco, CA | Private | $101M | - | $604M | 6.0x | |
 China | Publicly listed | $1.1B | ($85M) | $2.4B | 1.2x |
Genies Public Comps
Genies is still privately-owned, but its public comps include Sinclair, Saregama India, Shochiku, China Television Media, MNC Digital Entertainment, HTC, ProSiebenSat.1 Media, JYP Entertainment, Angel Studios and Bona Film Group.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $3.2B | $491M | 1.4x | 1.3x | 9.2x | 6.7x | |||
| $100M | $36M | 9.7x | 8.6x | 26.8x | 24.6x | |||
| $632M | $80M | 2.0x | 2.1x | 16.2x | 19.4x | |||
| $155M | $9M | 5.8x | - | 97.8x | - | |||
| $216M | $73M | 4.7x | - | 14.0x | - | |||
| $91M | $22M | 6.8x | 6.9x | 27.7x | (6.2x) | |||
| $4.2B | ($22M) | 0.6x | 0.6x | (118.4x) | 5.8x | |||
| $598M | $175M | 1.1x | 1.1x | 3.8x | 5.4x | |||
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Common questions about Genies
| When was Genies founded? | Genies was founded in 2011. |
| Where is Genies headquartered? | Genies is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, United States. |
| Is Genies publicly listed? | No, Genies is a private, VC-backed company. |
| What is Genies' valuation? | Genies was last valued at $1B in its Series C in April 2022. |
| How much funding has Genies raised? | Genies has raised $267M across 10 funding rounds. |
| What was Genies' last funding round? | Genies' last funding round was a $150M Series C in April 2022, led by Silver Lake. |
| Who are Genies' investors? | Genies' investors include New Enterprise Associates, Foundation Capital, CAA Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, BoxGroup, Joe Montana, Bond, Tull Investment Group, Breyer Capital, Compound and 38 others. |
| Which companies are comparable to Genies? | Companies comparable to Genies include Triller, Cover, Rilla, Picsart, Smule and China Literature. |
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