Olapic, a US-based start-up which helps publishers and brands collect photos from followers and fans, has closed a $5m series A round led by Fung Capital USA, a venture capital fund affiliated with Hong Kong-based Li & Fung Ltd., the world’s largest sourcing company that manufactures, distributes and retails consumer products globally with over $20bn in revenue. Other investors in this round included Longworth Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors including Great Oaks and Scout Ventures.
The latest round brings the company’s total funding to date to $6m since setting up in 2010.
Founded by three Spaniards, Pau Sabria, Luis Sanz and Jose de Cabo, who met while attending New York City’s Columbia University, the company raised $1m in 2012 from Bonobos, Warby Parker, Great Oaks Venture Capital, as well as Brad Harrison Ventures (now named Scout Ventures as of July 2013), Columbia University’s Lang Fund, and several other angel investors, according to news reports and clippings on Olapic’s website.
Olapic allows website visitors to contribute their own photos to be used online, via a simple upload tool that can access locally stored photos, or those shared on social services like Twitter or Instagram. Depending on a publisher’s preference, they can provide an upload tool on their website, encourage users to share photos with a particular hashtag, or do a little of both. However, here is a moderation tool that is provided to clients, allowing the business or brand to quickly go through user submissions.
The company already claims big brand names, such as Condé Nast, Pepsi, NY Daily News, The Baltimore Sun and sports teams like the Mavs, Grizzles, Giants, Ravens, FC Barcelona and others, and is now expanding its reach to e-commerce sites.
Olapic management see e-commerce brands as a future growth market since user-generated photos can almost act as a visual review of various products. According to trade press reports, brands use these photos creatively within the e-commerce pages and can also track the ROI with an analytics dashboard.
The latest round of funding will go toward scaling the service, as well as hiring out more sales staff and investing in marketing for the first time.