Scoopshot is taking on the UK, US and German markets after securing $1.2 million (£800,000) of angel investment capital.
The funding round is being led by Yuri Arcurs, a stock photographer who reportedly sells one photo every eight seconds.
Finland-based Scoopshot uses a global network of 280,000 mobile photographers and 1,100 professional snappers to allow buyers the opportunity to set specific assignments for pictures.
The business says that it is tackling on a multi-billion dollar industry, which currently consists of ‘stale photo libraries and expensive agencies’, by offering a crowdsourced approach.
Petri Rajha, founder and COO of Scoopshot, says that with Scoopshot, users can crowdsource images, run photo competitions, do content marketing and gain consumer insights.
Under its framework, location-based local tasks can be created for free, with national and global tasks available for a small fee. Photo buyers can pay to send an instant notification to photographers in a location alerting them to a task. All images are available to buy for $5 each, and Scoopshot already has customers including Oxfam and Fiat.
The new $1.2 million of investment capital adds to the €4.5 million already secured by Scoopshot, of which €1 million is a grant from Finnish technology fund TEKES.
More on angel funding:
- Angel backers from B&Q and Multimap.com invest in Wazoku
- Betfair founder backs Footfall123
- Sherry Coutu joins angels at Duedil
Danish photographer and angel backer Arcurs previously set up his own business, Yuri Arcurs Photography, to supply images to the stock industry. In 2012, Arcurs also founded peopleimages.com, which he has invested in, to serve as a direct sales platform for his image collection.
Niko Ruokosuo CEO of Scoopshot, comments, ‘Buyers are tired of wading through page after page of stale over-used photography, before having to compromise.
‘The birth of on-demand photography will be as much of a game changer for the photo industry as iTunes for the music industry.’
