Top startups shaping the future of personal photos

Many startups are changing the ways photos are shared, edited and stored

When most people think of photo sharing and images they likely think of the major platforms and big companies: Instagram and its parent company Facebook, Google, Pinterest, Twitter, Dropbox, Snap and Flickr.

However, there's a world of startups beyond just those big companies, with many up-and-coming platforms doing interesting things with photos in realms of sharing, editing and storage. 

Here are some of perhaps less well known companies in the photo and imaging space:

Shoebox

• Description: "In late 2012, we set out to make a simpler photo collection. Photo sharing was growing exponentially, but the simple task of keeping your photos backed up, organized and synced across all your devices was becoming more and more difficult. Even if you went to the effort to create backups, you rarely relived the moments you captured. With Shoebox, our goal is to make rediscovering years of memories simple and delightful. Unlimited free cloud storage means you can access any photo from anywhere. Our apps help you find and relive the best moments of your life."
• Funding: $1.2 million
• Investors: BDC Venture Capital, HIGHLINEvc, Marzio Pozzuoli

 

Clarifai

• Description: "Clarifai is an artificial intelligence company that excels in visual recognition, solving real-world problems for businesses and developers alike. Founded in 2013 by Matthew Zeiler, a foremost expert in machine learning, Clarifai has been a market leader since winning the top five places in image classification at the ImageNet 2013 competition. Clarifai’s powerful image and video recognition technology is built on the most advanced machine learning systems and made easily accessible by a clean API, empowering developers all over the world to build a new generation of intelligent applications."
• Funding: $40 million
• Investors: Corazon Capital, GV, Jan Erik Solem, LDV Capital, Lux Capital, Menlo Ventures, New York University, Osage University Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, Union Square Ventures, WinstonVenture

 

Artifact Uprising

• Description: "Founded in 2012, sisters Katie & Jenna took their decade of experience working as professional photographers to create printed photo goods with elevated quality, thoughtful design and responsibly-sourced materials."
• Funding: $54,000 before it was acquired by VSCO in January 2015
• Investors: Undisclosed

 

Joy

• Description: "We created Joy to be the perfect storytelling solution, to bring the immediacy and ease of today's technology to the family photo album. We considered every detail and every aspect of the experience to ensure every photo in your Joy Album will invite conversation with family, near or far. After all, every photo is taken with the intention of looking back and sharing the story behind the shot. With Joy, you can."
• Funding: $2.5 million
• Investors: BoxGroup, Maywic Select Investments, Obvious Ventures, The Chernin Group

 

PhotoBox

• Description:  "Rather than converting digital images into standard silver halide photo prints, PhotoBox could empower customers to make much more exciting and expressive products: photo books, personalised calendars, personalised phone cases, the scope really is unlimited."
• Funding: $139.09 million before being acquired by Exponent Private Equity in October 2015
• Investors: Barclays PLC, Greenspring Associates, HarbourVest Partners, Highland Capital Partners, Index Ventures, Insight Venture Partners, Quilvest Private Equity, The Royal Bank of Scotland

 

Timehop

• Description: "Timehop created the digital nostalgia category and continues to be THE team reinventing reminiscing for the digital era. We have more 'old' photos and content than ever before, yet most of the internet focuses on 'new'."
• Funding: $14.12 million
• Investors: Alex Rainert, Dennis Crowley, Jared Hecht, Kevin Slavin, Naveen Selvadurai, Oreilly AlphaTech Ventures, Randi Zuckerberg, Rick Webb, Shasta Ventures, Spark Capital, Steve Martocci, Techstars

 

HOVER

• Description: "HOVER transforms smartphone photos of any home to a fully measured, customizable 3D model so you can estimate a project confidently and easily visualize what the final project will look like."
• Funding: $17.3 million
• Investors: Almaz, Alsop Louie Partners, de Anda Capital, Kevin Compton, McKenna Management

 

MyRoll

• Description: "MyRoll is an intelligent gallery that learns what is most important to you, organizes your photos & videos into moments, helping you re-live and share life’s best memories."
• Funding: $2.45 million before it was acquired by AVG Technologies in November 2015
• Investors: Acequia Capital, Aviv Venture Capital, iAngels, Kaedan Capital, Moshe Lichtman, Partam Tel A Viv, Rafi Gidron, Yariv Gilat, Zohar Gilon

 

Fotobabble

• Description: "Fotobabble is a software company that provides photo- and audio-powered social marketing solutions for businesses, brands and nonprofits. Fotobabble’s integrated application suites help organizations attract and engage audiences across web, mobile and social networks."
• Funding: $300,000
• Investors: Undisclosed

 

Foap

• Description: "Foap AB offers smartphone users and photographers the opportunity to earn money from their photos."
• Funding: $4.51 million
• Investors: Gary Vaynerchukm, Industrifonden, Jade Global Investments, Jeff Zucker, Jordan Rednor, Maxwell Ventures, Niklas Östberg

 

Lifecake

• Description: "Parents take thousands of photos and videos that have no place in public. They’re a pain to organise, share with family, and to quickly find again later. These ethereal moments mean little to others, but everything to us. They tell the story of childhood. Unorganised, these snapshots overwhelm our phones and folders. Families deserve a simple, private, lasting place to keep, share, and relive childhood moments — across time, distance, and generations. That’s why we built Lifecake."
• Funding: $1.4 million before it was acquired by Canon in April 2015
• Investors: Balderton Capital, EC1 Capital Ltd, Jeroen Seghers, Jonathan Beddoes, Mark Hirschfield, Markus Kern, Mustard Seed, Saber Growth Partners

 

Path

• Description: "Path is a mobile photo-sharing and messaging service for building personal social networks with up to 150 contacts."
• Funding: $66.15 million before it was acquired by Kakao in May 2015
• Investors: Baseline Ventures, Index Ventures, First Round Capital, Betaworks, the Founders Fund, Dustin Moskowitz, Ashton Kutcher, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Index Ventures, Digital Garage Japan

 

Kanvas Labs

• Description: "Enrich app engagement & empower users to create in your app with next generation editing tools, cameras, factial tracking and more!" 
• Funding: $3.44 million before it was acquired by AOL in August 2015
• Investors: ARC Angel Fund, Boldstart Ventures, Bradley C. Harrison, Dace Ventures, Eniac Ventures, Frank Garland, Giordano Contestabile, KEC Ventures, Scout Ventures, Shawn V. Gruver, SierraMaya360, Social Starts, TMT Investments

 

EyeEm

• Description: "EyeEm builds technology to showcase the best images from the world’s leading photo community. We reinvent the way brands and agencies license authentic, royalty-free images and share all revenue with the creators."
• Funding: $24 million
• Investors: Atlantic Labs, Earlybird Venture Capital, OpenOcean, Passion Capital, Valar Ventures, Wellington Partners

 

Chatbooks

• Description: “Chatbooks offers photo books which automatically pull photos from Instagram, Facebook, and Camera Roll."
• Funding: $19.55 million
• Investors: Aries Capital Partners, BYU Cougar Capital, Kickstart Seed Fund, Peterson Ventures, Peterson Ventures, Signal Peak Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank,Tim Curran

 

Ceres Imaging

• Description: "We are an aerial spectral imagery company that helps growers optimize their water and fertilizer application. Our high-resolution multispectral images – captured via low-flying planes and processed using highly advanced image processing and crop modeling techniques – reveal highly accurate, real-time information of the water and nutrient status of every plant in a field."
• Funding: $5 million
• Investors: LaunchCapital, Romulus Capital, Silicon Badia

 

Light

• Description: "The L16 uses breakthrough optics design with the most advanced imaging engine ever created to give you the control of a DSLR with the convenience of a smartphone. With many cameras firing simultaneously, the L16 captures the details of your shot at multiple focal lengths, then fuses that information to create an incredible image with up to 52+ MP resolution."
• Funding: $64.7 million
• Investors: Bessemer Venture Partners, CrunchFund, CRV, Eclips, FIH Mobile, GV, Paul E. Jacobs, Sa, njay K. Jha, StepStone Group

 

Vebbler

• Description: "Imagine taking photos just the way you do, except that instead of saving them into your gallery, you get the ability to instantly sync all your photos with those taken by your friends at the same occasion - in real-time. Giving and getting photos will never be a problem ever again! What's more - you can express yourself on each photo through real and candid expressions, creating great memories for every moment...together!"
• Funding: $500,000
• Investors: Anupam Mittal, Pranav Pai, Sharad Sharma

 

Scoopshot

• Description: "News providers, bloggers, brands and companies as well as individuals can request Scoopshot photographers to send them specific photos or videos. To use this content, they pay a fee per photo/video to the photographer. Our system takes care of image rights transfers and monetary transactions, including billing if you are a professional photographer."
• Funding: $11.04 million
• Investors: Conor Venture Partners, Finnish Industry Investment Ltd, Yuri Arcurs

(Image source: karengately.wordpress.com)