companies

Skylum

Photo editing software maker behind Luminar Neo, known for one-click AI sky replacement, relighting, and portrait retouching.

Skylum traces back to 2008, when Ukrainian developers Dmitry Sytnik and Paul Muzok founded Macphun to build iOS and Mac apps, eventually turning their attention to photography software. The company released Luminar in 2016 as an all-in-one editor built around ease of use, followed by Aurora HDR in the same period, and rebranded from Macphun to Skylum in 2017. Skylum has grown without outside venture funding, describing its own growth as bootstrapped in company posts about scaling the business. The company's engineering base remains centered in Ukraine, with a corporate presence in New York City, and Ivan Kutanin now serves as CEO. Luminar Neo, released in 2022 as the successor to Luminar AI, is the current flagship: a modular editor built around AI tools such as Sky AI replacement, Portrait Bokeh AI, and Relight AI, sold as both a desktop application and a plugin for Lightroom and Photoshop. Skylum sells Luminar Neo through perpetual licenses as well as an annual Pro subscription that unlocks cloud-based generative features, a hybrid pricing approach that sets it apart from subscription-only competitors like Adobe.

Founded

2008

Headquarters

New York City, United States

Sector

applications