PhotoRocket raises $1.3 million Series A
Just three clicks and your photo is on Facebook and Shutterfly
PhotoRocket, a service that makes it dead simple to share photos on the social Web, has raised $1.3 million, according to an SEC filing, in what is likely the company’s Series A round.
In April, PhotoRocket secured $376,917 in seed funding, according to an earlier SEC filing, which combined with today’s funding brings the company total raised to approximately $1.7 million.
To share photos with PhotoRocket, a user need only right-click the picture or pictures on his or her computer and select “Share with PhotoRocket.” A pop-up window appears where the user can select names of people in the photos (or perhaps just people to share the photos with, it’s not quite clear) and the social sites where the photos should be uploaded.
That’s pretty much it. See a demo on the PhotoRocket site to see how easy it looks.
The Seattle, Wash.-based startup launched its photo uploading tool in alpha a month ago for Windows only, but both iPhone and Mac versions are in the works.
Iterations on the alpha release have already begun, with PhotoRocket releasing three new features for the product last week. These include the ability to link contacts from emails in address books, an easier way to add social sharing sites Facebook and Shutterfly and more photo products, like photo books, calendars, and flat greeting cards. Just in time for the holidays.
Listed on the SEC filing are Scott Lipsky, founder of PhotoRocket, CEO Gary Roshak, and Jan Hendrickson, managing partner at Denny Hill Capital, a venture capital firm focused on early stage startups based in the Pacific Northwest.
Lipsky is the definition of a Silicon Valley veteran, even though his PhotoRocket is based in Seattle, Wash. According to his online bio, he joined GameStop in 1987 (when it was called Babbage’s and only operated 16 stores), Barnes & Noble as CTO in 1994 and Amazon in early 1996 (a year before its IPO). He has also helped create numerous services, most notably digital marketing company Razorfish, whose parent company aQuantive sold to Microsoft in 2007 for $6 billion. That’s some serious experience.
And then, in 2010, he founded PhotoRocket. I see good things in this product’s future.
PhotoRocket was not immediately available for comment.