Online photography marketplace secures £500k funding following launch

An online marketplace for photographers has secured £500k investment from a venture capital fund, after launching its new platform in March.

The platform has delivered more than 100,000 photos for customers.

An online photography marketplace has secured £500k, less than nine months launching its new customer facing platform. Perfocal.com was founded by entrepreneur and former photographer Tony Xu, and since then it has delivered more than 100,000 images.

The company connects customers with local professional photographers, matching them based on requirements, experience and location.

The UK photography industry is estimated to be worth around £2bn, however it is also said to be highly fragmented with freelancers accounting for more than 90 per cent of professional photographers.

Tony Xu, Perfocal.com’s founder, said: “When we started this, we knew there was a huge gap in the market for a ‘one-stop-shop’ for photographers, as I’d actually had problems finding a suitable professional before.

“Whether you’re looking forward to your child’s first day of school, or celebrating your father’s 60th birthday, if it’s worth remembering, it’s worth capturing. That’s our mission - making this easy and affordable.

“We’ve been going for a while now, and we’re extremely excited about where this investment can take us. The first thing we’re focusing on is growth and recruitment at a few different levels.

“The goal is to take the business to an international market and give everyone in the world a chance to find photographers quickly and easily.”

Tony started the company after realising there were ‘significant issues’ with the current marketplace. Marketing, editing and admin are three of the biggest drains on a photographer’s time that keeps them from doing their actual job.

A lack of efficiency also pushes up pricing throughout the industry, making professional photography service out to be a ‘luxury’ purchase.

Perfocal.com is said to fix this by taking those tasks from the photographers, allowing them to focus on what they do best. All photographers on the site are subjected to a vetting process to ensure quality and professionalism for every booking.

Perfocal’s service is currently available in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool, with a goal to launch in another 10-15 UK locations in the next year.

Tony will be using the investment from VC fund Fuel Ventures, to hopefully double Perfocal.com’s team, improve its service and explore new categories.

Fuel Ventures is a venture capital firm that specialises in providing seed funding to early stage technology companies. It invests in founders who have the ambition to build a global, market leading company, with the passion and ability to execute.

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