LottieFiles, a platform for Lottie animations, secured the Series A funding worth USD 9 million from Microsoft's venture fund M12, along with investor 500 startups.
Founded in 2018 and based in San Francisco and Kuala Lumpur, the LottieFiles team includes 16 Maldivian developers, six of whom are based in Maldives.
With tools for the creation, editing, testing and marketing for Lottie animations, LottieFiles has experienced a 300 percent year-over-year growth and boasts about one million users from 65,000 companies, including Airbnb, Google, TikTok, Disney and Netflix.
Lottie animations, which are amaller than GIF or PNG graphics, are also scalable and interactive.
LottieFiles will utilise the new funding to further develop the company's product roadmap, expand infrastructure and increase its global user base.
Local member of Lottiefiles Ahmed Ali stated that Maldivian developers generally possessed an extensive skillset rather than specialised talents as a result of working with limited resources in Maldivian companies, often with teams of only one or two developers.
Ahmed Ali and fellow co-worker Naail Abdul Rahman stated that this conferred considerable benefits to Maldivian developers since such extensively skilled employees are rare in many companies around the world.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih congratulated LottieFiles on their success, particularly commending the contributions made by the Maldivian developers of the company.
Congratulations to @LottieFiles for the recent success in their startup venture. Very proud that homegrown Maldivian innovation is instrumental in this success given the pivotal role played by Maldivian developers at the company. https://t.co/UvxCGWaVvk
— Ibrahim Mohamed Solih (@ibusolih) January 27, 2021
In response one Maldivian Lottiefiles member urged the president to offer support to the next generation of tech enthusiasts "so that they don't face the same struggles we did".
Members of the public have called out for a wide range of actions such as ensuring more efficient internet service, providing financial aid and strengthening intellectual property in order to cultivate a tech industry in Maldives.
Reflecting on the successes attained by LottieFiles till date, Naail highlighted the importance of Maldivian developers being active in the international arena. He also expressed confidence that such developers would be able to attain success.
Sign In