Lobster provides corporate marketers, digital agencies, and publishers with a universal search tool that scans multiple social networks for specific user-generated imagery and facilitates licensing it. The platform currently pulls content from Instagram and Flickr and plans to add Twitter, Vine, Facebook, and Vimeo. After a buyer selects roughly ten desired images, Lobster contacts each content owner to negotiate and finalize a license, paying Flickr contributors up to $3 per image and Instagram users up to $2 per photo with upside as demand grows. Founder Olga Egorsheva says this solves the pain of multi-platform search and complex licensing workflows. The company debuted at TechCrunch Disrupt London in October and has ambitions to evolve from “the iTunes of user-generated content to the Google or Etsy” of the space. Lobster has secured about $100K in seed funding since launch, providing initial capital for product development and expansion.

Total raised

$1M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Series A

Latest activity

Jan 2017