Giphy raises $72 million to be the 'YouTube of GIFs'

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Giphy CEO and co-founder Alex Chung.

New York-based Giphy announced a $72 million Series D round on Monday led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson along with Institutional Venture Partners, CMC Capital, and existing backers.

The Wall Street Journal's Rolfe Winkler first reported the funding news and said it brings Giphy's valuation to $600 million. Giphy last raised $55 million in February and has raised $151 million in private funding to date.

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The three-year-old startup says its GIFs are seen by over 100 million people per day and that it serves one billion GIFs per day through its search engine, apps, and partnership deals.

COO Adam Leibsohn told the Journal on Monday that, "We want to be the YouTube of GIFs, where you'd come to create them, see them, share them."

Giphy still doesn't bring in revenue, but it's starting to partner with advertisers like Nike and McDonalds to create branded GIFs. Future revenue could come from selling ads alongside relevant GIFs or by letting GIF creators integrate their mini moving pictures with popular franchises.