StockPhotoTalk | Special Interest Blog

QuickLinks For 2009-06-18

• Big man is back in business (well, not really):
  Madrona Venture Group is leading a $4.4 million venture round in Animoto, the fast-growing New York startup that has developed an easy way for people to create interactive slide shows from personal photos. Amazon.com, iStockphoto founder Bruce Livingstone and angel investor Jeff Clavier also participated in the deal, which brings total funding to about $5 million.
  Pudget Sound Business Journal.
  The rest of the story on John Cook's Venture Blog: The company also is pushing deeper into commercial offerings. It already has a service for professional photographers, which allows them to create personalized slideshows of weddings, senior portraits or other special moments.
  The company will use the $4.4 million to add new features, including the incorporation of video and new ways to match images with music.

Fotolia raises between $50 million and $100 million Venture Capital from TA Associates

Some competitors of Fotolia have taken pride in the past months to spread the rumor that Fotolia was already or was about to be sold at that time.

TechCrunch/Erick Schonfeld, in another new article on Fotolia - and no further comment from me - emphasizes that "Fotolia Takes A Massive $50 Million To $100 Million Round" from TA Assiociates, but mentions also "there are some rumors going around in venture circles that Fotolia got sold outright for $150 million. Our source, however, emphasizes that the company was not sold. Instead, after competitive bidding from more traditional venture firms, TA Associates came in with a massive injection of capital."

Now you take your calculator and assess:

1. The underlying company evaluation, and
2. The underlying estimation of the microstock image market size.

 

FilmLoop Receives $7 Million In Series B Funding

FilmLoop, the company which cooperates with the World Picture Network (WpN), iStockphoto, PhotoBucket and the Photo Marketing Association International, has received $7 million in series B funding. Filmloop went live in November 2005.

MediaVast Receives $11 Million In Funding

No late April Fool's joke. MediaVast, the parent company of

• WireImage (divisions: Entertainment, Sports, News, Creative, Video )
  
• FilmMagic (celebrity, music and fashion photography)
• ContourPhotos (high-end celebrity portraiture)
• WINCreps (high-end portraiture and made-to-order photo shoots)

has "secured $11 million of a $15 million Series C round, according to a regulatory filing. QVT Fund was joined by return backers like Time Warner and Baroda Ventures." (Private Equity Week Wire, also Rafat Ali).

Full list of investors here, management team here.

Tags: Mediavast WireImage FilmMagic ContourPhotos WINCReps

More Bucks For A21/SuperStock: A21 Closes On $3.2 Million In Financing

a21, Inc., the parent company of SuperStock, has closed another deal. Investors included StarVest Partners and others.

For the moment, not much to add. Details here.

OnRequest Images Raises $8 Million In Second Round: Starbucks Enters The Stock Photo Industry

New bicycles and iPods for all employees. The big money is coming back to young companies, even if some (ASMP) think different ("OnRequest Images - A Threat To The Stock Photo Industry?").

OnRequest Images had been very active in the last weeks ("OnRequest Images Expands Offerings with Launch of Custom Assignment Photography Services") and offers now three products: Custom Assignment Services, Custom Stock Images, and Custom Stock Libraries (one flat fee covering two years of unlimited use). Next, they launched the "Next Generation Network For Photo Models" on August 10, 2005. Now they received their Second Round:

"Today, Norris' OnRequest Images is announcing that it has raised $8 million in venture capital to boost its sales and marketing. The 45-employee company has raised $12 million to date. [results in $4 million for the First Round]

The investors include Seattle-based Frazier Technology Ventures and Maveron, also based in Seattle and founded by Starbucks' Howard Schultz. What Norris also found were investors with expertise in his line of work. [Hint: this last sentence appeared earlier in the original story of the Seattle Times; Maveron has also invested in Potbelly Sandwich Works]

OnRequest uses the Internet to help match photographers with companies looking for specialized photographs. The difference between OnRequest and Getty or Corbis is that its network of photographers tailors a shoot to a particular company versus having a company sift through a library of images to use."

More here at the Seattle Times technology reporter: "$8 million is raised for images startup" and "Venture Capital: Frazier Technology 'on the move' in Seattle":

"Corbis spokesman Dov Schiff said the company's assignment business, which includes well-known photographers such as Ed Kashi, Peter Turnley and Dimitri Daniloff, is growing fast but still represents a small percentage of overall revenue. For large advertising campaigns such as Absolut Vodka or Sony PlayStation, Schiff said companies want to hand-select the photographers and images they use.

"The big advertising agencies don't want four or five people shooting on spec, they want a specific photographer and they want to custom design the shoot," he said. "It is kind of like college ball versus pro ball."

Still, Frazier Technology's Jordan said OnRequest is a "great Web play" because it efficiently matches the needs of advertisers with photographers. In that regard, he said it is similar to eBay.

OnRequest Images CEO David Norris, who co-founded the company in 2002 and chose Seattle for the headquarters because of the presence of Corbis and Getty, said they can offer corporations custom imagery at stock photography prices.

"People can get exactly what they want, quickly and efficiently and at a price they can live with," said Norris, adding that the images can be produced in less than 72 hours and at a cost that shaves millions of dollars off a traditional photo shoot.

As a result of the investment, Frazier Technology Ventures general partner Gary Gigot will join the company's board. OnRequest employs 45 people, with plans to double in the next 12 months. It has more than 300 customers, including Procter & Gamble, Charles Schwab and The Discovery Channel."

OnRequest Images will change the industry like Royalty Free did years ago. The lamentation and whining of some will continue with the same output peak as it happened years ago regarding Royalty Free. For those OnRequest Images will remain an ugly toad, for others (the global network of 1,600 photographers) it is or will become a big nice toad with lots of money in it.

[Image: Incredible OnRequest Huge Animals]

Partners of OnRequest Images include Alamy and Index Stock Imagery. More here at The Press Release Cemetery.

The Snowball Effect: Digital Railroad Gets $5.2 Million Venture Capital

Digital Railroad, the company that went online last year with an impressive broad range of services for professional photographers and photo agencies, today announced that it has secured a $5.2 million in venture capital from Morgenthaler Ventures and Venrock Associates (Venrock is also the VC behind Digit Wireless).
I wrote earlier about Digital Railroad, the idea, the concept, the small history of some other companies who acted rudimentary in this special business field earlier and finally how the customers, especially the single professional photographer, might benefit. Yes, the  single professional photographer, the mysterious person that had been totally forgotten in the present Stock Photo Industry game of "G. buys ABC" and "C. buys XYZ".
Shortly after I published this story in August 2004 Stock Index Online published an article about Digital Railroad which was apparently wrong on some  points. Finally, after some back and forth, Stock Index Online changed the article.
The internet party of 1999 is over. Remember, this company does not deal with possessing huge image libraries or vast collections of heritage images like Heritage Partners/Contentmine. Getting funding in today’s rough economic climate is a clear sign of trust and makes me think where this company might stay in two years... . Among others, new Digital Railroad members are Eyevine and CalSportMedia.

Regarding companies selling software and related services to the Stock Photo Industry, there are presently only five companies with venture capital in the background (maybe shortly six, but more about this later, after the CEPIC photo trade show).

Update: If you read the last but one paragraph here at PDN, don´t forget that the parent company of PDN, VNU USA, is also the parent company behind IPNStock.

A21 Group/Superstock: More Bucks

The A21 Group , parent company of Superstock, completed a $2.25mm financing "round". Details here.

The Return of the Venture Capitalists

Shortly after Technorati received a $6.5 million USD in VC funding valuing the company at $12 million dollars (the round was led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, the guys with the gold fingers; source: Om Malik), the New York Times has a two-pages story (September 2, 2004) "The Return of the Venture Capitalists":

Four years after the Internet bubble burst, the venture-capital industry is stirring back to life. Investments by venture firms rose 22 percent in the second quarter of this year, to $5.8 billion.
[..]
For all of 2004, analysts project an 11 percent increase in investments, to $20 billion, from $18 billion in 2003.
That is a far cry from the $108 billion in the heady days of 1999, and nobody in the venture-capital business is predicting a return to that flood of cash.
[..]
The competition among venture capitalists to get their foot in the door of promising companies has also heated up. The time that elapses for a deal to close has been cut by more than half, from six to eight months two years ago to two or three months today, said Bill Ericson, a general partner with Mohr, Davidow Ventures, another Menlo Park firm.
Perhaps the most encouraging development for entrepreneurs is the increase in venture-capital investments in early-stage companies, to 231 in the second quarter of 2004, the highest number in two years.
[..]
At the same time, it is unlikely that start-ups will see a return to easy-money days anytime soon, in part because many firms are not raising the kind of funds they did during the bubble.
[..]
The real test, then, is whether company management has already proved its mettle with appropriate industry and small-company experience. "Even if they were unsuccessful, at least we know they tried and learned from what they did before," Mr. Brown said. Recently, he said, the firm added a psychological test to the last step of the decision-making process "to sort out the wheat from the chaff."

Rumors has it that recently a new and young company in the Stock Photo Industry received a first round of $12.7 million USD (today, this is a incredible high amount). When we asked some people over there, their CEO said what seemed to be exactly what David Sifry replied when asked by Om Malik whether or not Technorati got funded: "I'm sorry, it is our policy not to comment on questions on funding" (Link for Om Malik). More to report when they go online.

Pure Images: The Next Big Fish Hunter With The Marketing BlitzWorld Picture News: First Round Financing

Time for Start-Ups again! After the new UK-based Photo Agency TheImageFile ("Groundbreaking new image library to take on Gates and Getty empires" [btw: big words!] and here), new US-based Photo Agency UpperCut Images (and here) the next Newcomer is the scottish Photo Agency Pure Images with a strong emphasis on "Looking for more realistic images from photographers across Britain? Looking for stock photos that depict the variety of British life?". The SundayHerald/Steven Vass writes in "Scottish photography library targets US giants" (This sounds pretty like the 1999 party -- founded just yesterday in the evening, the next morning a serious competitor to Getty and Corbis):

Scott Davidson, co-founder of Pure Images, said: “We are trying to bridge what we see as being a gap in supplying photography between small specialist libraries and extremely large websites like Getty and Corbis.”
[...]
Although there are British libraries, such as Alamy, that already offer this kind of service, Pure Images is the first in Scotland.
Scott Davidson and his brother Darryl have been building up their stock data base since last November, when they received a loan and a year’s free office space in Denny, near Falkirk, as a runner-up prize for an enterprise competition held by Falkirk Enterprise Action Trust.
Although Scott Davidson says the company still needs a much larger database of images, they now have enough to start targeting customers. The company is gearing up for a marketing blitz on the creative industries to officially launch the site next month, and will be offering generous discounts for the first four weeks.
Pure Images hopes to grow quickly by offering 70% of the licence price to photographers – which Scott Davidson said is higher than competitors’ rates. “There’s quite a variation with competitors. Our rate is on the generous side.
“Percentages paid to photographers by different libraries go down to 40%. Most photographers seem to think 70% is pretty attractive,” said Davidson, adding that photo graphers also get access to how their images are performing.
[...]
As well as the enterprise loan, the company is being funded by the Davidsons’ existing web-design company, Oldhand Media [Link], which they hope to wind down if Pure Images takes off.

Looking back in the history of some stock photo agencies, we had the 90% cut, the 80% cut ... all gone and blown away. Now 70%. And the question remains: Will it work? There had been various posts in the Editorialphoto and Stockphoto Yahoo email groups in the last weeks, so for further informations try the search buttons there.

[Update August 10] Another company in this field who recently received funding is World Picture News ("World Picture News Gets Funding, Ramps Up Operations"): "Focused primarily on photojournalism news and features...the agency will make its first official presence at the Visa pour l'Image photo- journalism festival the following week."
One of the few examples that VC is back in business ("Having acquired several million dollars in investment capital in June", PDN), however not at seed stage ("the agency made sales "in the neighborhood" of $1.1 in 2003", PDN).

[© Image around here]

Zefa Visual Group: Bought For €6 Millions, Sold For €90 Millions?

The Financial Times/Peter Smith today has a somehow surpringing article: "Getty and Corbis to battle over Zefa library".
The article reports that 3i, still the biggest (and for some still the best) VC company in Europe, might have plans to sell the german-based photo agency Zefa:

Zefa, owned by 3i, the private equity group, and its management, led by Erwin Fey, this month selected LongAcre, the corporate finance boutique, to undertake a strategic review.
3i acquired Zefa in 1998 for about €6m. Since then, its group's sales have quadrupled to about €35m. Based on a multiple of two-and-a-half times sales, Zefa is worth close to €90m ($111m).
All options are being considered, including an outright sale, a recapitalisation, and a partnership with either a trade or financial party.

Related: "Fading Distinctions And One Image Like The Other: Digital Vision Links With Zefa"

Questo blog è chiuso per ferie, fino all' 8 Agosto 2004

[© Grace and Katie]

Chiudo, per un circa settimana, questo weblog. Infatti, a mio modesto parere, per scrivere bisogna prima pensare e, i blogs spesso ti tolgono lo spazio per pensare.


(Hint for the person/CEO/BizDeveloper etc. who is constantly looking for "DigitalVision 2003 revenues", ""Image source" 2003 revenues" or "Index stock imagery 2003 revenues" and other good stuff-- Google hits are a tricky thing, especially with your really nice -- and static -- IP! So, no one has to work for Pixlogic, the company ("Visual Search") with Venture Capital from the CIA, just to know who you are...).
=:-)

Mena´s Out, Barak Is In: A Simple Fact And The Question "How To Tell It"

[© pomomusings, strange link]

because The-Internet-Bubble-Gum-BlaBla remains:

Cory Doctorow/BoingBoing

Mena Trott has stepped down as CEO of SixApart, makers of Movable Type and TypePad, in favour of Barak Berkowitz, one of their Series A investors. Mena's written a heartfelt appreciation of Barak that is an instant classic -- a unique example of a company founder's sincere desire to see her efforts bear fruit, even if she's not's in charge any longer (though she's staying on as President).

[We like Cory, but yesterday we saw about four posts mentioning/dealing with Flickr at BoingBoing, or as Cory would say: "(Disclosure: I am on Ludicorp's advisory board)"]

Joi Ito:

Last but not least, Barak Berkowitz who was once my boss at Infoseek, then later worked for me at Neoteny, is now taking over the role of CEO of Six Apart...Welcome aboard everyone. I think we're turning a new page in the development of Six Apart...I'm a proud VC today.

And now another side of the story (BlogHerald, "Mena dumped by SixApart investors: insider says lots of fighting, Mena in tears"):

A SixApart insider has contacted The Blog Herald alleging that Mena Trott was dumped as CEO of SixApart and did not stepped down as per the spin on her blog. The same source alleges that the move came after several weeks of worsening relations between Mena and investors, including fighting over the phone with Mena ending up in tears on more than one occasion over the poor performance of the company to date. Her working relationships within SixApart's San Mateo, CA, office are alleged to be "very poor" and the source speculates that given time the investors will look at buying out the Trotts.
[...]
The company, which when first formed many thought would go on to bigger and better things (including by The Blog Herald) has lurched from crisis to crisis as its continues to burn money with what our insider has described as a "totally overboard" number of staff recruitments, and through its disastrous licensing fiasco which cost it untold amounts of good will from its once strongest asset, its supporters in the Blogosphere who did so much to give the company such strong positive publicity at little to no cost.

The BlogHerald writes also: "Whilst the source also names the people allegedy involved in these fights, and the organisations they represent, we have chosen not to publish them at this stage for legal reasons."

Related links: "Vive Six Apart!" (Mena´s Corner), "Barak at Six Apart" (Mena´s Corner).

Meanwhile Mena has responded to the BlogHerald ("Mena's Shocking Baby Scandal!"):

Seriously, name your "inside source" including the "parties involved" or send me a fu**king bouquet of flowers.

To be continued?

Using Blogs To Dispense Venture Capital: How to catch the next Sabber Bhatia of the Blogosphere

Slashdot:

"The New York Times describes how Tim Draper, a founder of Draper Fisher Juvetson venture capital firm, is trying out a new approach to finding the next entrepreneurial superstars . In his Web log (which NYTimes mysteriously never links to, but it's on AlwaysOn-Network), Draper asks the readers to leave the comments with their billion-dollar ideas. The winners of this pitch were selected recently, and just reading the comments with innovative ideas is quite interesting."

(btw: it´s Jurvetson, but how should you know?)

The attitude is the same as 1999: "The general attitude on Sand Hill [Road] is, 'If a company isn't 20 miles from my house, and if an entrepreneur doesn't come with a reference, we're not interested,' " Mr. Draper said." (NYT)

Related: "SmartAdvice: Are Blogs The Next Internet Marketing Phenomenon?" (InformationWeek) and especially "RSS Ads — let’s get it on!!! (Jason Calacanis)"

[via ITFacts.biz]

Introducing New Categories

Some people have asked if there won´t be a better way to organize all those entries... .
The build-in google search might be nice, but shows often too many hits. On the other hand we wanted to add some new categories since weeks.
So here they are. 19 new categories. Assigning new categories to some hundreds of old posts is a tough (and boring) job, so for a couple of days (weekend) new posts will appear only irregularly.
[© Image creativemac.com]

[Update June 9, 2004: Forget it. There is no way to re-open over 300 posts and reassigning new categories to the old posts. So these new categories only work with future posts or some very important old posts which had been adjusted. Try the Google Search instead. Sorry]

New categories:

Start

Each time you start from scratch.