Stability AI Sells Image Editor Clipdrop to Generative AI Startup Jasper

Jasper Acquires Clipdrop to Boost its Generative AI Marketing Platform

Jasper, a startup that offers generative AI solutions for marketing, has announced the acquisition of Clipdrop, an image creation and editing service, from Stability AI. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the acquisition will enable Jasper to enhance its multimodal generative AI platform for enterprise customers, while Stability AI will focus on its core business of developing and delivering open-source LLMs and related projects.

What is Clipdrop and How Does it Work?

Clipdrop is a service that uses machine learning and generative AI to enable users to manipulate images on desktop and mobile devices. Users can easily remove objects and text from images, export subjects, adjust lighting, and zoom in on parts of images. Clipdrop also has a browser extension that allows users to capture and edit any image on the web.

How Jasper Will Leverage Clipdrop’s Technology

Jasper plans to leverage Clipdrop’s technology to develop its multimodal generative AI tools for enterprise marketing. Jasper’s copilot, a comprehensive marketing assistant, will integrate Clipdrop’s features to help marketers create and edit images for various formats and channels. Jasper’s business customers can already access Clipdrop through the API and the copilot, and the company promises deeper integration in the future.

Jasper CEO Timothy Young emphasized the importance of visual marketing. He stated that the integration of Clipdrop into Jasper will enhance their goal of becoming the leading all-in-one marketing copilot in the industry. This powerful copilot will support various formats, channels, and functions required by enterprise marketing teams. With this robust tool, the companies we serve can surpass basic AI prompts and achieve personalized marketing, well-informed automation, and optimized strategies.

Why Jasper Acquired Clipdrop and What’s Next

Jasper AI decided to purchase Clipdrop after undergoing a strategic change following layoffs in July and Young taking over as CEO from Dave Rogenmoser. The company has been focusing on serving the marketing industry with the Jasper Campaigns platform and enterprise services through the Jasper Chat conversational generative AI engine. However, they encountered tough competition from ChatGPT, a well-known generative AI writing assistant.

Jasper AI raised $125 million in the fall of 2022 to create the Jasper for Business suite of tools that underlie its other products. Acquiring Clipdrop is part of Jasper’s pursuit to become a leader in the generative AI marketing space. Clipdrop’s co-founders Cyril Diagne, Damien Henry, and Jonathan Blanchet will continue to run Clipdrop from their Paris office, with Henry taking on a leadership role for Jasper as part of the deal. Clipdrop will also remain available as a standalone consumer product.

Henry expressed his enthusiasm for the potential of Clipdrop technology in Jasper’s copilot for marketing teams. He highlighted the synergies between the two companies and their shared goal of developing a top-notch multimodal platform for marketers. They are eager to begin working together.

Why Stability AI Sold Clipdrop and What’s Next

Stability AI, a company that develops open-source LLMs and related projects, bought Clipdrop via its parent brand, Init ML, less than a year ago. Clipdrop was Stability’s first acquisition following its $101 million raise in 2022. At the time, Clipdrop claimed to have attracted more than 15 million users since launching in July 2020, raising just $1.26 million in a 2021 seed funding round.

Selling Clipdrop so soon suggests that Stability AI wants to keep the focus on its core business of building and delivering cutting-edge LLMs and related projects, rather than managing specific products like Clipdrop. Stability AI will continue to partner with Clipdrop on research and provide its models to the platform.

Stability AI CEO Emad Mostaque expressed his appreciation for Jasper’s long-standing partnership and their use of Stability AI models. He also expressed excitement about Clipdrop’s expansion and their collaboration with Jasper. Mostaque mentioned that Stability AI will continue to work with Clipdrop on research and provide their advanced models to their platform.