TL;DR: Midjourney generates approximately $3 million in revenue per employee — hitting $500M ARR in 2025 with just 163 people. They’ve raised zero venture capital, spent zero on marketing, and built their entire distribution through a Discord server. This makes them arguably the most capital-efficient AI company ever created.
Last updated: February 26, 2026
The Numbers That Don’t Make Sense
When you look at Midjourney’s financials, they seem impossible:
| Metric | Midjourney | Typical AI Startup |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue (2025) | $500M | $10-50M |
| Employees | 163 | 200-500 |
| Revenue per Employee | ~$3.07M | $100-250K |
| VC Funding | $0 | $50-500M |
| Marketing Spend | $0 | 20-40% of revenue |
| Valuation | ~$10B+ | Depends on funding |
For context, the average SaaS company generates around $200,000 per employee. Enterprise software companies like Salesforce hover around $400,000. Even highly efficient tech companies rarely crack $1 million.
Midjourney is generating 3 million dollars per employee — and they did it without raising a single dollar from venture capitalists.
The Origin Story: A Serial Entrepreneur’s Pivot
Midjourney’s founder David Holz isn’t a first-time entrepreneur. Before Midjourney, he co-founded Leap Motion, a hand-tracking hardware company that raised over $300 million in venture capital and reached a $306 million peak valuation in 2013.
That company was eventually acquired for just $30 million in 2019 — a 90% loss from its peak.
After that experience, Holz wanted something different. As he explained in interviews, he was “seeking a change from large venture-backed companies.” In August 2021, he assembled a team of just 10 engineers and started training diffusion models.
The first private demo launched in September 2021. By February 2022, Midjourney was publicly available — not through an app store or website, but through a Discord bot.
The Discord Distribution Hack
Here’s where Midjourney’s strategy gets interesting. Instead of building a traditional website or mobile app, they launched entirely within Discord.
Why Discord?
- Zero customer acquisition cost — Discord users discovered Midjourney through the server itself
- Built-in community — Users could see what others were creating in real-time
- Social proof at scale — Every image generated was visible to other users
- Word-of-mouth amplification — Users shared their creations, bringing more users
As Holz described it in a conversation with Stratechery’s Ben Thompson:
“I think that the Midjourney experience would not work at all if it was just talking to a chatbot in a room by yourself, but the second that it’s in a room with lots of people, it becomes really interesting.”
The result? Midjourney’s Discord server grew to become the largest server on Discord — with over 21 million members as of June 2025. They achieved this with literally zero marketing spend.
Compare this to other AI companies spending 20-40% of revenue on customer acquisition.
Revenue Growth Without the Burn
Midjourney’s revenue trajectory is remarkable:
| Year | Revenue | Employees | Rev/Employee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | $50M | ~11 | ~$4.5M |
| 2023 | $200M | ~40 | ~$5M |
| 2024 | $300M | ~80 | ~$3.75M |
| 2025 | $500M | ~163 | ~$3.07M |
A few things stand out:
1. They started profitable. In 2022, with just 11 employees, they were already generating $50 million. That’s nearly $5 million per person from day one.
2. They grew revenue faster than headcount. While revenue went 10x from 2022 to 2025, their team only grew from ~11 to 163 employees — roughly 15x, but from a tiny base.
3. They maintained efficiency at scale. Even at $500M revenue, they kept revenue per employee above $3 million.
The Business Model: Simple and Scalable
Midjourney’s pricing is refreshingly straightforward:
- Basic: $10/month (3.3 hours of GPU time)
- Standard: $30/month (15 hours of GPU time)
- Pro: $60/month (30 hours of GPU time)
- Mega: $120/month (60 hours of GPU time)
All plans include commercial usage rights. The subscription model means predictable revenue with minimal churn.
Stripe recognized Midjourney as its most globally distributed business in 2024 — meaning they have paying customers across more countries than any other Stripe merchant. That’s truly global scale.
Market Position: Leading the Pack
Despite competing against well-funded rivals like OpenAI (DALL-E) and Stability AI, Midjourney holds the top position in generative AI image tools:
| Tool | Market Share (2024) |
|---|---|
| Midjourney | 26.8% |
| DALL-E | 24.4% |
| NightCafe | 23.2% |
| Others | 25.6% |
This market leadership was achieved without:
- A mobile app (until recently)
- A proper website (launched August 2024)
- Any advertising
- Any VC backing
Why No VC?
Holz’s decision to stay bootstrapped seems intentional. After watching Leap Motion’s venture-backed journey end in a fire sale, he took a different approach:
Advantages of staying bootstrapped:
- Full control — No board meetings, no investor pressure, no “grow at all costs” mandates
- Focus on product — Resources go to R&D, not investor relations or growth hacking
- Sustainable pace — Hire when needed, not to hit arbitrary milestones
- All upside retained — Employees and founder keep the equity
The irony? By avoiding VC, Midjourney became more valuable than most VC-backed AI companies.
The Team: Small But Elite
With 163 employees generating $500M in revenue, every hire matters. Midjourney’s team includes:
- David Holz (CEO) — Founder with hardware and physics background
- Ahmad Abbas (Head of Hardware) — Former Apple Vision Pro hardware engineering lead
The hardware hire is interesting. In August 2024, Midjourney announced it was expanding its hardware team, suggesting potential moves into physical devices. A dedicated Midjourney device? An AI creative workstation? They haven’t revealed details yet.
What Can We Learn?
Midjourney’s success offers several lessons for founders:
1. Distribution Can Be Product
By launching on Discord, Midjourney turned distribution into a feature. Users didn’t just use the tool — they watched others use it, got inspired, and shared their work. This created a flywheel that required zero marketing spend.
2. Start Profitable
Instead of burning cash to grow, Midjourney was profitable from the start. This gave them optionality — they could grow at their own pace without desperately seeking the next funding round.
3. Efficiency Compounds
When you generate $5M per employee, you can afford to be selective about hiring. Each new person needs to pull their weight, which maintains culture and execution quality.
4. VC Isn’t Always the Answer
Especially in AI, where the technology moves fast and product-market fit is everything, staying nimble can be more valuable than raising a war chest.
5. Community Is a Moat
Midjourney’s 21 million Discord members aren’t just users — they’re a creative community. They share techniques, create tutorials, and evangelize the product. This kind of organic advocacy can’t be bought.
The Future
Midjourney continues to evolve:
- V6 brought video and 3D generation capabilities
- Website launch (August 2024) expanded beyond Discord
- Hardware team expansion suggests physical products are coming
- Revenue projections suggest continued growth toward $1B+ ARR
With no VC pressure to exit and a highly profitable business, Midjourney can play the long game. Whether that means an IPO, staying private, or building an entirely new category of creative hardware remains to be seen.
The Bottom Line
Midjourney proves that the best way to build a valuable company might be to focus on building a great product rather than raising money and burning it on growth.
With $3 million in revenue per employee, zero VC funding, zero marketing spend, and 26.8% market share, they’ve created what might be the most efficient AI company in history.
The numbers speak for themselves.
FAQ
How much revenue does Midjourney generate?
Midjourney generates approximately $500 million in annual revenue as of 2025, up from $50 million in 2022.
How many employees does Midjourney have?
Midjourney has approximately 163 employees as of 2025, making their revenue per employee around $3 million.
Has Midjourney raised venture capital?
No, Midjourney is completely self-funded and has raised zero venture capital.
Who founded Midjourney?
David Holz founded Midjourney in 2021. He previously co-founded Leap Motion, a hand-tracking hardware company.
What is Midjourney’s market share?
Midjourney holds approximately 26.8% of the generative AI image tools market, making it the market leader ahead of DALL-E (24.4%) and NightCafe (23.2%).
How much does Midjourney cost?
Midjourney offers four subscription tiers: Basic ($10/month), Standard ($30/month), Pro ($60/month), and Mega ($120/month).
Is Midjourney profitable?
Yes, Midjourney has been profitable since its early days, generating $50 million with just 11 employees in 2022.
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