Gfycat
AcquiredMountain View, US · Founded 2015 · Delaware corporation · 3 known investors
GIF/media platform that grew to 200 million monthly active users and was acquired by Snap.
Also known as Gfycat, co.
Founders & leadership
Gfycat was founded in 2015 by Dan McEleney and Richard R. Rabbat.
Board
Investors · 3
Funding
SEC filings, press & company announcements$2M disclosed across 1 of 3 rounds · 2015–2025
- Undisclosed amountSeedApr 2025Source ↗
▶$2MraisedJul 2015 · 2 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Dan McEleneyDirector
- Ernestine FuDirector
- Richard R. RabbatExecutive Officer, Director
- Offering amount
- $2M
- Amount sold
- $2M
- First sale
- Jul 2015
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware, 2015
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
Source: SEC EDGAR Form D. Amounts as filed; amended filings shown once at their latest values.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Gfycat was a user-generated short video hosting company that offered a web platform for uploading and hosting short looping video content. It was among the first web services to offer video encoding of GIFs, converting standard video formats into HTML5-based looping files that were substantially smaller than legacy animated GIFs while preserving frame rate and resolution. Alongside the core website, Gfycat shipped an iMessage app, an Android app, and the GIF Brewery macOS application for GIF and video creation.
The platform combined a consumer content hub with a developer toolset, exposing an API that let third-party applications integrate its encoding. Gfycat maintained integrations with Reddit, the messaging app Tango, Microsoft Outlook, Skype and WordPress, among others. In December 2019 it launched redgifs.com as a separate destination for adult content, and on May 12, 2020 banned adult content from Gfycat entirely; the redgifs service was subsequently sold to another company.
Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat, acquired Gfycat in 2020. On June 30, 2023 Gfycat announced it would discontinue service, and the site was taken offline on September 1, 2023, with all hosted content and user data deleted from gfycat.com.
Compiled by commissioned research from 6 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 10
launches, deals, and filingsThe Gfycat website was taken offline and hosted content deleted. Wikipedia lists the company as dissolved on this date.
Gfycat posted a notice that the service was being discontinued and that all content and data would be deleted from gfycat.com after September 1, 2023.
The TLS certificate for gfycat.com expired on May 18, 2023, making the platform inaccessible to most users for about five days; it was renewed on May 22, with a Snap spokesperson calling it a temporary issue, though upload problems persisted.
Gfycat was acquired by Snap Inc., parent company of Snapchat. TechCrunch reports the acquisition occurred in 2020.
Gfycat launched a separate site, redgifs.com, for adult content; adult content was banned on Gfycat itself on May 12, 2020.
An alleged data breach reportedly compromised approximately 8 million accounts, with the database offered for sale on the Dream Market.
Gfycat released a mobile GIF creation app for Android.
Gfycat acquired the GIF Brewery Mac application to extend its GIF creation capabilities to the desktop.
Gfycat brought its higher-quality GIFs and DIY creation tools to iMessage.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
Legal entities · 1
corporate structureIn the news
▸Research sources · 6
primary sources listed
- Gfycat - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org · web
6 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Gfycat do?
- Gfycat was a user-generated GIF and short-video hosting platform, acquired by Snap in 2020 and shut down in 2023.
- Who founded Gfycat?
- Gfycat was founded by Dan McEleney, Richard R. Rabbat in 2015.
- Who are Gfycat's investors?
- Gfycat's investors include Alsop Louie Partners, Pear VC, Sturgeon Capital.
- How much funding has Gfycat raised?
- Gfycat has disclosed $2M raised across 1 of its 3 known rounds.
- Where is Gfycat headquartered?
- Gfycat is headquartered in Mountain View, US.