Photoroom (see Pulse 2.0 profile here) – a rapidly growing AI photo editor – announced it has successfully closed a $43 million Series B funding round. The funding round – which was led by previous investor Balderton Capital and new investor Aglaé with YCombinator participating, brings Photoroom’s total funding to $64 million.
As one of the few companies in the world that trained a model from scratch, Photoroom will utilize the funding to accelerate its innovation in generative AI: expanding its model capabilities by investing in more GPUs, securing imagery from leading image providers and photographers, and doubling the size of the team by the end of 2024 by hiring the best AI talent.
This announcement comes as Photoroom launches its first foundation model tailor-made for product photography Photoroom Instant Diffusion (Photoroom ID for short). And the first of its kind, Photoroom’s foundation model is trained to master product photography, ensuring that images from different sources look consistently styled, as if shot in the same setting.
Having control over a custom model means that Photoroom’s machine learning team will incorporate new research as soon as it is released. And Photoroom’s custom architecture will also increase the speed of image generation by up to 40%. This means users can generate and iterate on its images much faster than on any other visual AI model.
Photoroom is also launching a suite of new AI photo-editing tools that provide businesses more creative control over their product images, including:
— AI Backgrounds (formerly Instant Backgrounds): Generate improved-quality AI backgrounds for product photographs
— AI Expand – Use generative AI to realistically expand the scene around an existing image
— AI Images – Create custom images from scratch using text prompts
— AI Fill – Customize an item or area of your image with AI for more creative control
— Auto-rotate – Correct the camera angle with AI for more professional images
— AI Upscale – Enhance the resolution of images for higher quality photos
— Image Editing API – Businesses can use Photoroom’s API to generate and edit hundreds of images in seconds
For small businesses, Photoroom’s new foundation model and features help them create professional-quality product images and by giving users more creative control and flexibility. And the company’s collaboration with photographers and image providers around the world also ensures a diverse dataset, using images to train the model that have been used with the provider’s consent.
For businesses that create and edit a high volume of images, Photoroom focused on automating photo-editing workflows for teams. Photoroom’s Image Editing API already lets teams like Smartly, Printify, Faire, Bulgari, and Netflix edit images by the thousands or millions. And the API can be integrated into almost any system and brings Photoroom’s capabilities directly into its customers’ workflows. Over the coming months, Photoroom will also make its newest generative AI features available through the API.
This foundation AI model and subsequent investment marks a significant milestone in Photoroom’s journey to revolutionize AI photo-editing for businesses, and cements Photoroom’s position as a leader in visual AI. And since launching in 2019, Photoroom has been downloaded more than 150 million times worldwide, is used by thousands of businesses, ranked among the top 6 generative AI products.
KEY QUOTES:
“Photoroom shattered all expectations. Its unparalleled ease of use became the catalyst for propelling the Barbie Selfie Generator into the digital spotlight, and captivating audiences worldwide.”
– Cameron Curtis, EVP of Worldwide Digital Marketing at Warner Bros
“Balderton has witnessed Photoroom’s remarkable journey from its inception, and we are continually impressed by their ability to lead and execute on their user-centric vision. Photoroom’s generative AI capabilities are unparalleled, and we have no doubt that they will continue to lead the way in this rapidly evolving landscape.”
– Bernard Liautaud, Managing Partner at Balderton
“The foundation model is the next step in empowering businesses to create amazing product photos without the need to be an expert at prompt engineering or photography. Our model has been trained to excel at product photography and can quickly adapt to user needs and feedback.”
“We are not only increasing the speed of our model, but also optimizing for quality, through higher resolution, more detailed images, and a larger training dataset than ever before. As a user-centric AI company, we designed the architecture to make sense for our users.”
– Matthieu Rouif, co-founder and CEO at Photoroom
“We were immediately drawn to Photoroom’s disruptive approach to photo-editing for businesses. Their dedication to craftsmanship and their ability to attract top-tier brands like Bulgari and Warner Bros. to their platform underscored their potential for long-term success. We believe Photoroom’s innovative technology will continue to revolutionize the way businesses engage with visual content, and we are proud to be a part of their journey.”
– Kristina Chvilova, Partner at Aglaé
