Picfair operates an online marketplace serving roughly 35,000 photographers, allowing them to sell image licenses and prints. The company has launched Picfair Stores, giving each photographer a free independent online store while keeping images available on the central marketplace. Customers can purchase licensed digital copies or on-demand physical prints through those stores. Picfair positions itself as a blend of marketplace exposure, website-builder control, and on-demand print functionality aimed at amateur and professional creators, per founder Benji Lanyado. It has also launched a photo agency unit that leverages its photographer network to fulfil briefs for brands and agencies such as Google, VisitBritain and Ogilvy. Financially, Picfair recently completed an equity crowdfunding round and previously raised a £1.5 million seed round a year earlier. Picfair operates an open photo marketplace where anyone from smartphone shooters to professionals can upload images and set their own license prices. The platform takes a 20% cut on each sale and uses curation technology to surface quality images regardless of photographer credentials. Picfair hosts around 25,000 photographers and has grown largely through organic word-of-mouth among creators. The company positions itself as a provider of more authentic, unique imagery for publishers, creative agencies, SMEs and corporates. Future plans include introducing affiliate revenue to give photographers an extra 10% on direct sales and building tools (embed buy buttons and promotional assets) to make marketing easier. Picfair raised £1.5M in new funding to help scale marketing and 'weaponise' its photographer base. Picfair is a London-based online image marketplace where photographers upload and sell photos, with Picfair taking a 20% commission on top of photographer-set fees. The site organizes images by themes and uses an algorithm to track which images are being shared across the web to surface popular content. Since opening for business in August 2013, Picfair has seen about 40,000 images uploaded from 50 countries. Founder Benji Lanyado expanded the operation from a one-person band and has hired four people following the seed round. The company plans product enhancements including dynamic pricing recommendations and automatic surge pricing when images begin to buzz. The recent seed funding will be used to build out more features in the marketplace.

Total raised

$3M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Sep 2018