An online marketplace for photographers has secured a GBP500,000 investment from venture capital fund Fuel Ventures, after launching its new platform in March this year.
Perfocal.com was founded by entrepreneur and former photographer Tony Xu. 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 GBP2 billion, however it’s highly fragmented with freelancers accounting for more than 90 per cent of professional photographers. This can make it difficult for customers to find, compare and book photography services. Perfocal.com’s mission is to give people the smoothest user experience when looking for a photography professional.
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 away from their passion – taking great photos. A lack of efficiency also pushes up pricing throughout the industry, making professional photography service seem to be a ‘luxury’ purchase. Perfocal.com fixes 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.com markets the platform, allowing customers to find a photographer much more easily than ever before. Photographers will travel to the client’s locations. After a shoot, photographers just have to upload their unedited images to Perfocal.com who handle the editing and image delivery. The on-demand service starts from less than GBP70 – approximately 40 per cent less than market average rates, providing a great value service to customers, while maintaining profitability for photographers.
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 double Perfocal.com’s team, improve its service, explore new categories, grow its photographer network and expand its service geographically, with a view of becoming the UK market leader in next 12-18 months. The company is looking to hire staff for various positions including senior designers, developers, and marketers.
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.
Tony Xu, Perfocal.com founder, says: “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. We’ve also started some exciting conversations providing enterprise level on-demand photography solutions for big platforms such as Deliveroo.”
