EyeEm, a smartphone camera and photo sharing application, has closed a seed round backed by London-based Passion Capital and pan-European investors Wellington Partners.

EyeEm, a smartphone camera and photo sharing application, has closed a seed round backed by London-based Passion Capital and pan-European investors Wellington Partners.

The announcement of the funding round comes as EyeEm’s application launches this week on the iOS App Store and Android Marketplace. EyeEm is a smart photo-sharing application for smartphones that constantly learns about user tastes, and recommends albums of similar photos from friends and like-minded people around the world.

Berlin-based EyeEm incorporated in February this year and has secured the investment from Passion Capital, Wellington Partners and Christophe Maire, who acts as the company’s executive chairman. Financial details have not been disclosed.

The official launch follows a beta period with more than 5,000 users from 79 different countries.

The project’s concept originated after company co-founder, managing director and photographer Florian Meissner had his digital SLR camera stolen on a subway in New York City.

Meissner explains, ‘I managed to pick up a used iPhone from a friend as a replacement and discovered a whole community of passionate people on Twitter and Flickr who enjoyed sharing their daily phone shots. Inspired by this kind of mutual appreciation, the ambition behind EyeEm is to connect people beyond their existing social networks.’
 
Passion Capital partner Stefan Glaenzer comments, ‘With a remarkable eye for user experience, the EyeEm founders have developed an exciting topical social channel – through photo sharing.’

Wellington partner Daniel Waterhouse added, ‘The EyeEm team have an exceptional understanding of the power of building conversation and discovery around the sharing of images. We are delighted to be working with them at the cross-section of social, mobile and local applications.’