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§ Private Profile · Tel Aviv, Israel
Facial recognition software company providing APIs for face detection, recognition, and tagging in photos for developers and apps.
Face.com has raised $15.0M across 3 funding rounds.
Key people at Face.com.
Face.com has raised $15.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Face.com was a facial recognition software company operating from an undisclosed location that provided application programming interfaces for face detection, recognition, and tagging in digital photographs. The platform enabled third-party developers and social media applications to automatically identify and organize human faces within image datasets through subscription and usage-based fee structures. Prior to its eventual closure, the technology powered photo tagging features for major platforms and secured a prominent customer relationship with Facebook, which is now known as Meta Platforms. The corporation was officially acquired by Facebook in June 2012 to integrate its proprietary computer vision technology directly into the social network's core infrastructure. Following the acquisition, the standalone application programming interface service was permanently shut down in September 2012, while the original founding year and the identities of the founding team remain publicly undisclosed.
Key people at Face.com.
Face.com has raised $15.0M across 3 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $4.0M Series B in September 2010.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2010 | $4M Series B | Rhodium | Earth And Beyond Ventures, Lool Ventures, Surround Ventures, Arkady Volozh | Announced |
| Feb 1, 2009 | $1M Series A | — | Earth And Beyond Ventures, Surround Ventures | Announced |
| Jan 1, 2009 | $10M Seed | — | Earth And Beyond Ventures | Announced |
Face.com has raised $15.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Face.com's investors include Rhodium, Earth and beyond ventures, lool ventures, Surround Ventures, Arkady Volozh.
Face.com was an Israeli technology company that built a leading facial recognition platform for detecting, tagging, and identifying faces in photos uploaded via web and mobile apps, primarily integrated with Facebook.[1][2] It served developers, Facebook users, and apps by powering tools like Photo Finder (for finding untagged photos) and Photo Tagger (for bulk-tagging faces), scanning billions of photos monthly and solving the problem of manual photo organization in social networks.[1][3] The company raised $5.3 million in funding before its 2012 acquisition by Facebook for an estimated $55-60 million, marking strong growth momentum with over 10,000 developers using its API by early 2011.[1]
Founded in 2009 in Tel Aviv, Israel, Face.com started with a small team of about 10 employees and quickly released Facebook apps leveraging its facial recognition tech.[1][3] Key figures included CEO Gil Hirsch, who highlighted the company's focus on building consumer products; the team had prior experience powering Facebook apps for two years before the acquisition.[1][3] The idea emerged amid rising social photo-sharing, gaining early traction through free REST API access that became the world's largest and most accurate face recognition platform, moving from alpha to beta in 2011 with expanded limits.[1][2] Pivotal moments included $1 million Series A in 2009, $4.3 million Series B in 2010 led by Rhodium and Yandex, and turning down acquisition offers until Facebook's "too good to pass up" deal in June 2012.[1][3]
Face.com rode the early 2010s explosion in social media photo-sharing, where Facebook's growth amplified demand for automated tagging amid billions of uploads.[1][3] Timing was ideal post-2008 launch, aligning with mobile photo apps and developer ecosystems hungry for AI-driven tools before widespread in-house alternatives.[2][3] Market forces like privacy debates and ad-driven personalization favored its tech, influencing Facebook's photo experience and broader adoption of facial recognition in surveillance, advertising, and social platforms.[1][5] Post-acquisition, it accelerated Meta's (Facebook's) AI capabilities, contributing to features like auto-tagging while highlighting tensions in data privacy ecosystems.[3][5]
Face.com's legacy endures through Facebook's (now Meta's) facial recognition systems, which evolved its tech into core products despite initial API wind-down.[1][3] Looking ahead, advancements in AI like multimodal models and ethical regulations will shape similar technologies, potentially reviving open APIs under Meta's Llama or new ventures. Its influence may grow via integrated AR/VR photo tools, tying back to its origin as a pioneer simplifying social photo chaos into tagged memories.[1][2]
