Genies, Inc.

Genies is an American avatar technology company founded by Akash Nigam and Evan Rosenbaum in 2017. Genies consumer app allow users to create fully personalized avatars to be used in apps such as Giphy, iMessage, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and more. Genies also offers a software development kit (SDK) enabling brands to create a branded avatar experience and online marketplace directly in their apps. The company also consists of an Avatar Agency that creates digital versions of its clients.
The company has raised $40 million in funding from Silicon Valley venture capitalists such as Jim Beyer, NEA, Foundation Capital, Box Group, Great Oaks, Lerer Ventures and Trinity Ventures. In addition to traditional VC firms. Genies is also funded by a combination of other global entrepreneurs, talent agencies and Fortune 500 companies, including Thomas Tull, Shawn Mendes, Offset, and Scooter Braun. Genies currently employs 60 people and the company is valued at over $100 million. In November 2020, Japanese multinational video game developer and publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment announced a $3 million investment in Genies including an expansion in Asia.
In 2021, Genies started offering non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in partnership with celebrities such as musician Shawn Mendes.
When Nigam was a junior in college at the University of Michigan studying computer science and economics, he met University of Pennsylvania student, Evan Rosenbaum, and soon after, the two co-founded a company called Blend. Blend started as a mobile app for college students that gifted items in exchange for sharing photos. The co-founders received an acquisition offer but declined. Shortly after, the pair began using much of Blend’s proprietary technology to build Genies.