Less than a year after its B Series of $45 million, Meero has announced a third fundraiser of $230 million ( €205 million) led by Eurazeo Growth and Amsterdam-based VC, Prime Ventures.
The startup revolutionising the world of professional photography has made a real accomplishment by raising the largest C Series in France to date only 3 years after its creation. It expects to end the year with 1,200 employees spread across 5 offices around the world.
To achieve this fundraising, which will bring nearly $300 million of finances to the company, Eurazeo, Prime Ventures Avenir Growth and GR Capital have joined together with renowned investors like Global Founders Capital, Alven, Aglaé Ventures, White Star Capital and Idinvest Partners. Also, Sake Bosch, Managing Partner of Prime Ventures and Yann du Rusquec, Managing Director of Eurazeo Growth, joined Meero’s board as non-executive members.
How will the new investments be used?
This new financing will allow Meero to continue its mission of boosting the creativity and freedom of photographers. This is done by guaranteeing them:
Additional revenue from photoshoots for major brands, and soon individual consumers
Tools to simplify the daily tasks of the job as well as inspire them and help them develop as professionals
An expanding creative community that already holds monthly meetups in 35 different countries
“Art and creativity are probably innate in human beings and are only lost over the course of time. In societies where logic and competition are at the heart of the education system, creativity is perceived as a crossroads at best, if not a path towards marginalisation.” says Thomas Rebaud, CEO and founder of Meero. “It’s even more sad that this is undoubtedly what separates the human race from all others. We have to fight for the creative among us to be able to use their time and energy to create.”
In terms of additional revenues, the startup aims to continue its progress into the world of services valued at over 100 billion dollars (real estate, marriages, e-commerce, etc.) by developing its solutions for new audiences in new environments. With over 31,000 clients in over 100 different countries, the startup plans to offer its photography services previously reserved to professionals to individual clients.
This will also give the startup the chance to develop its services dedicated to its photographers’ community. Starting with the selection of tools for mymeero (file compatibility, CRM, marketing, etc.) designed to simplify the business side of photography, Meero also plans to announce a panel of solutions for photographers’ daily work, as well as masterclasses, documentaries, meetings with other photographers, a magazine in several languages, and the creation of a foundation to support photography. These and many more projects will be launched by Meero to focus on the mission which has driven the startup since its creation.
Finally, these funds will allow it to perfect its automatic photo editing and content enrichment technology – editing being a time-consuming and tedious job for the majority of photographers. The “tech” team, currently 80 employees strong, plans to grow to 300 by the end of next year.
Meero: aims to revolutionise the world of photography
Founded in 2016, Meero aims to revolutionise the world of photography by allowing photographers to dedicate themselves to their passion. From providing revenues and market research to invoicing, post-production, and delivery, Meero takes care of all the laborious, time-consuming tasks which plague the industry. Above all, the company aims to provide them with tools for file compatibility, CRM, marketing, and other daily needs. In addition to this, they’ll have access to a series of educational masterclasses, inspiring documentaries, meetups with photographers in 35 different countries, a magazine in 4 different languages, and even a foundation supporting photography worldwide.
Meero also solves a major problem in the world of photography: photo editing. Normally 60 minutes of actual shooting will take up to 4 hours of extra post-production work. The cutting-edge content enrichment technologies the company is currently developing can reduce this time to a few seconds, solving the problems of long delivery times, inconsistent photo rendering and unfair prices.
Meero further gives artists the chance to work with major brands and take advantage of a whole range of solutions that simplify their work and make the production of beautiful images far easier.
These innovations allow brands, and soon individual consumers, to access made-to-mesure photo and video solutions around the world. Meero manages the photoshoot process from beginning to end, guaranteeing unbeatable prices, delivery times of less than 24 hours and a regular, professional photo quality.
Today Meero is:
– The first on-demand photograph platform in the world
– A suite of tools dedicated to the management of photographers’ activity, a series of masterclasses, a magazine in 4 different languages, inspiring documentaries, a community of passionate creatives, and a foundation to support photography worldwide
– The world leader in Artificial Intelligence photo Editing
– The provider to 31,000 clients in more than 100 countries
– A network of 58,000 photographers across the globe
– The employer of 600 workers of 49 different nationalities
– Delivering a photoshoot to a client every 25 seconds
– Based in 5 offices around the world: Paris, New York, Shanghai, Tokyo and Bangalore
— Press release
Stay tuned to Silicon Canals for more updates in the tech startup world.
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