# Midjourney revenue, valuation & funding Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/companies/midjourney/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy. Midjourney, the San Francisco image and video generator, has never raised outside money, so no funding round has set its valuation. Sacra estimated it had $200 million in annual recurring revenue in 2023. It's private, with no ticker and no stated IPO plan. Checked Nov 7, 2026 ## At a glance - Valuation: none set. Midjourney is self-funded and has never raised a priced round. - Revenue: $200 million in annual recurring revenue in 2023, as estimated by Sacra. Midjourney publishes no results. - Status: private. No stock ticker. No stated IPO plan. - Founded: in San Francisco by David Holz, who co-founded Leap Motion. Its image generator entered open beta on July 12, 2022. - CEO: [David Holz](https://realalpha.app/builders/david-holz/). - Investors: none. Holz has said the company remains independent with no investors. - Products: the Midjourney image generator, now at V8.1, and the V1 video model. - Employees: about 60 as of April 2026, according to Forbes. Other estimates range from about 40 to 163. ## Is Midjourney public? Can you buy its stock? No. Midjourney is a private company, so its shares don't trade on any stock exchange and it has no ticker symbol ([Revenue Memo](https://www.revenuememo.com/p/who-owns-midjourney)). It has never held an IPO. No IPO filing or IPO date has been reported. [Revenue Memo](https://www.revenuememo.com/p/who-owns-midjourney) says staying self-funded spared David Holz the pressure of "an IPO on an investor's timeline." David Holz said on X in August 2025 that the company remains independent with no investors ([TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/22/meta-partners-with-midjourney-on-ai-image-and-video-models)). Data sites say Holz and some early employees hold its shares, but that isn't confirmed by a primary report. This page reports facts and gives no investment advice. ## How Midjourney makes money Midjourney sells subscriptions to consumers, with tiers priced by GPU usage and feature access ([Sacra](https://sacra.com/c/midjourney/)). Holz told The Register in August 2022 that Midjourney was already profitable ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midjourney)). Forbes has also reported it profitable, but no profit figure or accounts have been published ([AI Business](https://aibusiness.vc/startups/midjourney-500m-zero-funding)). - **Subscription plans.** Sacra lists Basic at $10 a month, Standard at $30, Pro at $60 and Mega at $120. · [Sacra](https://sacra.com/c/midjourney/) - **Licensing.** Meta agreed in August 2025 to license Midjourney's image and video model technology. Terms were not disclosed. · [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/22/meta-partners-with-midjourney-on-ai-image-and-video-models) ## Products - **Midjourney image generator** (open beta July 12, 2022). It turns text prompts into images. · [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midjourney) - **Version 6** (alpha December 21, 2023). · [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midjourney) - **Web app** (August 2024). It launched alongside version 6.1. · [Sacra](https://sacra.com/c/midjourney/) - **V1** (June 18, 2025). Its first video generation model, available from the $10 Basic plan. · [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/18/midjourney-launches-its-first-ai-video-generation-model-v1/) - **V8.1** (April 14, 2026). The current stable release, following the V8 alpha in March 2026. · [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midjourney) ## Users and usage Midjourney hasn't published a user count. [Sacra](https://sacra.com/c/midjourney/) estimates it has about 1.4 million paying subscribers, an analyst figure. ## Leadership Forbes lists about 60 employees as of April 2026 ([AI Business](https://aibusiness.vc/startups/midjourney-500m-zero-funding)). Other public estimates range from about 40 to 163. - **[David Holz](https://realalpha.app/builders/david-holz/),** founder and CEO. He co-founded Leap Motion, the hand-tracking company, before starting Midjourney. · [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/22/meta-partners-with-midjourney-on-ai-image-and-video-models) - **Ahmad Abbas,** Head of Hardware since December 2023. He led Apple's hardware engineering team for the Apple Vision Pro. · [Contrary Research](https://research.contrary.com/company/midjourney) ## Who owns Midjourney? Midjourney has never taken outside funding, according to [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/22/meta-partners-with-midjourney-on-ai-image-and-video-models). It has no parent company and no public shareholders. Data sites say Holz owns it along with early employees, whose stakes are undisclosed, but no primary report confirms this ([Revenue Memo](https://www.revenuememo.com/p/who-owns-midjourney)). Meta once talked with Midjourney about buying it, [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/22/meta-partners-with-midjourney-on-ai-image-and-video-models) reported, citing Upstarts Media. Meta licensed its technology instead, and Midjourney stayed independent. - **[David Holz](https://realalpha.app/builders/david-holz/),** founder and CEO. He said on X in August 2025 that the company has no investors. · [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/22/meta-partners-with-midjourney-on-ai-image-and-video-models) - **[Meta](https://realalpha.app/companies/#meta)** licenses Midjourney's technology but bought no stake. · [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/22/meta-partners-with-midjourney-on-ai-image-and-video-models) ## Competitors A June 2026 comparison by [Tech Insider](https://tech-insider.org/best-ai-image-generator-2026/) set Midjourney V8.1 against several image models. It found OpenAI's GPT Image 2 leading its arena. - **[OpenAI](https://realalpha.app/companies/openai/),** with GPT Image 2. · [Tech Insider](https://tech-insider.org/best-ai-image-generator-2026/) - **[Google](https://realalpha.app/companies/#google-deepmind),** with Nano Banana Pro. · [Tech Insider](https://tech-insider.org/best-ai-image-generator-2026/) - **[Black Forest Labs](https://realalpha.app/companies/black-forest-labs/),** with FLUX.2. · [Tech Insider](https://tech-insider.org/best-ai-image-generator-2026/) - **[Stability AI](https://realalpha.app/companies/stability-ai/),** with Stable Diffusion 3.5. · [Tech Insider](https://tech-insider.org/best-ai-image-generator-2026/) - **Adobe,** with Firefly, which works inside Photoshop and Illustrator. · [Sacra](https://sacra.com/c/midjourney/) ## Timeline and latest news - Apr 14, 2026 · Released V8.1 as its stable model. · [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midjourney) - Nov 4, 2025 · Warner Bros.' suit was folded into the Disney case. · [Fiund](https://fiund.com/lawsuits/disney-universal-v-midjourney) - Aug 22, 2025 · Meta agreed to license Midjourney's image and video technology. · [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/22/meta-partners-with-midjourney-on-ai-image-and-video-models) - Jun 18, 2025 · Launched V1, its first video generation model. · [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/18/midjourney-launches-its-first-ai-video-generation-model-v1/) - Jun 11, 2025 · Disney and NBCUniversal sued Midjourney over copyright. · [Fiund](https://fiund.com/lawsuits/disney-universal-v-midjourney) - Aug 12, 2024 · A court let artists' infringement claims proceed against Midjourney. · [EntertainmentLawyer.Pro](https://entertainmentlawyer.pro/ai-and-fair-use-update/) - Aug 2024 · Launched its web app alongside version 6.1. · [Sacra](https://sacra.com/c/midjourney/) - Dec 21, 2023 · Released the alpha of version 6. · [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midjourney) - Dec 2023 · Ahmad Abbas, formerly of Apple's Vision Pro hardware team, joined as Head of Hardware. · [Contrary Research](https://research.contrary.com/company/midjourney) - Aug 2022 · David Holz told The Register the company was already profitable. · [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midjourney) - Jul 12, 2022 · The Midjourney image generator entered open beta. · [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midjourney) ## Legal matters Midjourney faces two copyright cases, one from film studios and one from artists. Neither had been decided on the merits as of August 2026. - **Disney and NBCUniversal** (filed June 11, 2025, Central District of California). Midjourney answered on August 6, 2025 with a fair-use defense. · [Fiund](https://fiund.com/lawsuits/disney-universal-v-midjourney) - **Warner Bros.** sued separately. On November 4, 2025 the court folded its case into the Disney case, with Disney as lead. · [Fiund](https://fiund.com/lawsuits/disney-universal-v-midjourney) - **Studio case status.** Trackers say it was in discovery as of July 2026, with motions due in late November 2026, but this isn't confirmed by a primary report. · [Fiund](https://fiund.com/lawsuits/disney-universal-v-midjourney) - **Andersen v. Stability AI** (Northern District of California). An August 12, 2024 order let infringement and trade dress claims proceed against Midjourney and others, and dismissed the section 1202 claims. · [EntertainmentLawyer.Pro](https://entertainmentlawyer.pro/ai-and-fair-use-update/) - **Andersen trial date.** A third amended complaint was filed in February 2026. One tracker lists a jury trial for April 5, 2027, and others give different dates. · [EntertainmentLawyer.Pro](https://entertainmentlawyer.pro/ai-and-fair-use-update/) ## Questions people ask ### Is Midjourney a public company? Can I buy Midjourney stock? No. Midjourney is private and has no ticker, so its shares aren't sold on any exchange ([Revenue Memo](https://www.revenuememo.com/p/who-owns-midjourney)). ### When will Midjourney IPO? No IPO filing or date has been reported. It has never held an IPO. ### Who owns Midjourney? It has no outside investors, according to [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/22/meta-partners-with-midjourney-on-ai-image-and-video-models). Data sites say Holz and early employees own it, but that isn't confirmed. ### Who is the CEO of Midjourney? [David Holz](https://realalpha.app/builders/david-holz/), who founded it after co-founding Leap Motion. ### How much is Midjourney worth? No valuation has been set. Midjourney is self-funded and has never raised a priced round. ### How much revenue does Midjourney make? It publishes no results. [Sacra](https://sacra.com/c/midjourney/) estimated $200 million in annual recurring revenue in 2023. ### Is Midjourney profitable? Holz said it was profitable in August 2022, and Forbes has reported it profitable. No profit figure has been published ([AI Business](https://aibusiness.vc/startups/midjourney-500m-zero-funding)). ### How does Midjourney make money? Mostly subscriptions, from $10 to $120 a month according to [Sacra](https://sacra.com/c/midjourney/). Meta also licenses its technology. ## People on Real Alpha - [David Holz](https://realalpha.app/builders/david-holz/), Founder, Midjourney ## How this page is sourced Each figure links to the filing, company statement or news report it came from, with its date. Run rates are what reporters were told, not audited results; estimates and unconfirmed reports are marked. Quotes are what each person said on the record, with the minute they said it.