Depositphotos is a royalty-free content marketplace with headquarters in New York, USA. The company was founded by Dmitry Sergeev in November 2009 in Kyiv, Ukraine. The Depositphotos library has over 200million files, including royalty-free stock photos, vector images, video clips, and editorial files. In 2012, the Depositphotos library exceeded 10million files in less than four years and was considered one of the fastest-growing photobanks in the world.
The Depositphotos library consists of 200million files and includes a community of 100,000 contributors.
History
2009–2012
In November 2009, entrepreneur Dmitry Sergeev founded Depositphotos in Kyiv, Ukraine. In 2011, Depositphotos received $3million in
Series A
A series A round (also known as series A financing or series A investment) is the name typically given to a company's first significant round of venture capital financing. The name refers to the class of preferred stock sold to investors in exc ...
funding from
AIM-listed TMT investments.
2013–2014
In 2013, in direct competition with Foap and
EyeEm
EyeEm (originally Eye'em), pronounced "I am", is a German technology company that provides services related to photography. It was co-founded by Florian Meissner, Ramzi Rizk, Gen Sadakane, and Lorenz Aschoff in Berlin in 2011. Eyeem.com and the E ...
Depositphotos launched Clashot, a service to sell and purchase mobile stock photographs that received the Best Mobile App award at
Microstock Expo in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
.
During 2013, the Depositphotos library grew to 20million files and registered their one-millionth client. The same year
Forbes Ukraine
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
gave the microstock agency a valuation of nearly $100million. In 2014, Depositphotos launched Bird In Flight, an online magazine about
photography
Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...
and
visual culture
Visual culture is the aspect of culture expressed in visual images. Many academic fields study this subject, including cultural studies, art history, critical theory, philosophy, media studies, Deaf Studies, and anthropology.
The field of vi ...
, which also includes the online magazine WAS and an international photography award "Bird In Flight Prize".
2015–2016
The company's second major investment was from the
EBRD
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is an international financial institution founded in 1991. As a multilateral developmental investment bank, the EBRD uses investment as a tool to build market economies. Initially foc ...
and TMT Investments in December 2015. The following year, the library size grew to 50million files and the company launched Enterprise Solution, a platform for corporate clients and more efficient team collaboration.
2017–2018
In 2017, Depositphotos announced the release of Crello, an online
graphic design tool with ready-made templates to create designs without professional skills. The same year, the company opened Lightfield Productions, the biggest photography
studio in
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...
.
2019–2020
The Depositphotos library celebrated 100million files in 2019. Crello, one of the brands of Depositphotos, released their mobile applications for
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
and
Android. In 2019, the Clashot application was terminated.
2021
In October 2021, Depositphotos and all subsidiaries was acquired by
Vistaprint
Vistaprint is a Dutch global, e-commerce company that produces physical and digital marketing products for small businesses. Vistaprint was one of the first businesses to offer its customers the capabilities of desktop publishing through the int ...
for a total price of $85 million. Crello will be renamed to VistaCreate. Vadim Nekhai, ex-CEO of Despositphotos, becomes the VP of VistaCreate.
Brands
Depositphotos library
Depositphotos currently has several payment models both for individuals and companies. All images are sold under a royalty-free license with two main types of licenses – standard and extended. Editorial files are available under a limited Standard license.
Crello
Crello is an online
graphic design tool that allows one to create designs for
social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
,
blog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...
s,
marketing materials, and other types of ads quickly and without professional design skills. Crello features 25,000 professionally designed templates for static designs and 5,000+ animated templates. Crello has an integrated Depositphotos library, 500,000+ premium photos, and two mobile applications for iOS and Android.
Lightfield Productions
In 2017, Depositphotos opened Lightfield Productions, the largest photography studio in Eastern Europe to help form a community of photographers in Ukraine. The studio is also functioning as an educational center and a platform for events.
Bird in Flight
Bird in Flight is an online magazine about photography and visual culture available in English, Ukrainian, and Russian. The magazine features international photographers and artists working in different genres. The topics covered include people, events, projects, and the latest trends in the industry.
WAS
WAS is an online magazine featuring fascinating stories from around the world, marrying the past with the present in a visual storytelling format.
Focused Collection
Launched in 2018, Focused Collection is a premium marketplace for stock images and includes more than 400,000 visuals by selected artists and agencies. Partner agencies include
500px,
Image Source, and StockFood.
Events and projects
Social Media Week Kyiv
In 2018 and 2019, Depositphotos hosted Social Media Week Kyiv as a part of the worldwide
Social Media Week network taking place annually in major global cities.
Creative Loop
In 2019, Depositphotos launched Creative Loop, an international event for creators interested in design, advertising, and production.
OFFF Kyiv
In 2019, Depositphotos organized the international festival of creativity OFFF Kyiv and supported the
art exhibition
An art exhibition is traditionally the space in which art objects (in the most general sense) meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhi ...
Ukraine WOW.
See also
*
Stock photography
Stock photography is the supply of photographs which are often licensed for specific uses. The stock photo industry, which began to gain hold in the 1920s, has established models including traditional macrostock photography, midstock photography, ...
*
Microstock photography
Microstock photography, also known as micropayment photography, is a part of the stock photography industry. What defines a company as a microstock photography company is that they (1) source their images almost exclusively via the Internet, (2) d ...
*
Royalty-free
References
External links
Depositphotos Website{{Authority control
Stock photography
Photo archives in the United States
Companies based in Florida
Companies based in Kyiv
Internet properties established in 2009