Flipagram Lays Off Staff Months After Raising $70 Million

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Flipagram Lays Off Staff Months After Raising $70 Million
Flipagram screenshot

Social media startup Flipagram, which raised $70 million last year, has reportedly laid off more than 20 percent of its staff.

Flipagram’s app lets users stich together photo and video montages to be shared within the app or on other social media platforms. The app also lets users attach song clips to their photo and video sequences. The company said it had 33 million active users in 2014.

The startup announced its $70 million Series B round in July, though it actually closed the round in February 2014. The funding was led by Menlo Park’s Sequoia Capital with participation from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Index Ventures.

Layoffs reportedly took place Oct. 1 when 17 employees were let go, according to a report by Business Insider. A Flipagram spokeswoman confirmed the layoffs to the Business Journal.

“We recently reorganized to give greater responsibility to leaner engineering, product and design teams, so we could be more nimble and iterate faster,” she said in a statement.

Flipagram is not yet generating revenue from advertisements or sponsorships, but it has made money through a music download partnership with iTunes. Users who want to play background music for greater than 30 seconds must pay for the privilege.

For song clips shorter than 30 seconds, Flipagram has signed music-licensing agreements with several major record companies, including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group. The startup declined to disclose the costs of those deals.

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