Photo editing tools are becoming essential for content creators who want to establish their brands and stand apart from other creators. Tezza, the photo and video editing app founded by husband-and-wife team Tezza Barton and Cole Herrmann, now aims to be the go-to tool for influencers, offering hundreds of editorial templates as well as over 40 curated presets, overlays, Instagram feed management tools and more.
Barton, a photographer and influencer with 1.2 million Instagram followers, exclusively told TechCrunch that Tezza (which is entirely self-funded, by the way) is on track to achieve its highest-performing year as it approaches $32 million in annual recurring revenue. The company also publicly announced today that it has reached 20 million downloads since launching its app in 2018. Tezza currently has over 2.5 million active monthly users.
Tezza works very similarly to VSCO. Users simply upload a picture or video and choose from a selection of filters, giving their content a professionally edited look without spending money on all those influencer-created presets that we see trending nowadays.
Additionally, Tezza recently launched “Tezza Studio,” a video-editing feature that lets content creators easily edit full-feature videos with vintage-inspired film effects, music and an array of presets and fonts. VSCO rolled out its first video editing tool in 2017.
“While there are several apps that are great for piecing together videos, we didn’t feel like there was anything that allowed people to create something truly beautiful,” Barton told us. “We have also been inundated with feedback from our vibrant community… We observed users piecing together videos elsewhere and then bringing that into Tezza to apply our color grading or film effects.”
What stands out the most about Tezza is that, unlike other major editing apps, it was made by digital creators who know exactly what their community wants.
“As creatives ourselves, we’re able to recognize patterns in trends and identify our own pain points in content creation to develop solutions that fit the needs of our community,” Barton told us. “I have a unique perspective on what types of tools people are looking for, which aesthetics are worth pursuing because they are impactful, timeless, and relevant, and a direct connection to a thriving industry of other content creators looking to build brands and careers.”
Barton remarked that a lot of photo editing apps out there are “boring, black and white, technical tools built by men,” which appears to be a dig at VSCO, a social photo created by Joel Flory and Greg Lutze in 2011. VSCO had its heyday in 2019 thanks to the VSCO Girl trend, however, its popularity has significantly dwindled.
Tezza has been used by many celebrities and influencers, such as Kourtney Kardashian, Gigi Hadid, Shay Mitchell, Olivia Wilde, Madeleine White, Ashley Graham and Nessa Barrett.
On the long-term roadmap, Tezza plans to explore AI tools. For instance, a feature that prompts the app to make an image look like it’s from a film. Earlier this year, Picsart introduced SketchAI, a new app where users sketch a picture or upload an existing image and turn it into digital art.
Tezza is free to download on iOS and Android devices. It also offers three premium subscription tiers ranging from $5.99 to $9.99 per month.
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