Avi Muchnick is the co-founder and CEO and Israel Derdik is the co-founder and CTO
Israel: Aviary is a photo editor that can be embedded inside other developers’ applications – so if you have an android app or a website, you can embed our code inside your own site and have photos that get uploaded or accessed– and you can apply filters, crop, and things like that.
Avi: Way back in 2002, I ran a website called Worth1000.com – a site where artists would come and compete and make really cool artwork. I would get lots of questions like, ‘where can I get tools to make photos look really great,’ – and the idea for Aviary spun from there. Then Jeff Bezos, CEO and founder of Amazon was a fan of worth1000, and he reached out to me and said, I really like what you’re doing,’ and proceeded to invest seed money to help Aviary get started. He has been involved in all investment rounds since.
Aviary launched a major upgrade to SDK, and now powers 10 million photo edits each month. It is available for Android, IOS, and web apps, and includes additional image effects and a refreshed UI. It also paves the way for Aviary’s monetization plans: developers will be able to sell special filters and stickers via in-app purchases, and Aviary will take a cut of these transactions.
