News

VSCO Raises $40 Million From Accel Partners

We’ve all heard of VSCO in the mobile photography community, if nothing else for the #VSCO or #VSCOCam on Instagram. Yesterday the company announced a $40 million investment from Accel Partners, a venture firm, renown for its early investment in Facebook.

VSCO; which says that it has a community “tens of millions of people” large — is more than just another app maker. VSCO also sells editing software that emulates the effects of classic analog film photography, which the company says has allowed it to be “cash-flow positive since Day 1,” when the company was founded in 2011.

The company employs 43 people in Oakland, Calif., who help run the other elements of Vsco (whose name rhymes with “disco”), including a community platform where photographers can share their work with one another, and a digital journal that features the artists using VSCO software and tools, among other things.

“We are working to create a new digital age of creativity,” said Greg Lutze, who founded VSCO along with Mr. Flory. “We built something we wanted to use ourselves.”

via NYTimes

 

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Joanne Carter is a British photography journalist, editor, curator, and the founder of *TheAppWhisperer.com*, one of the world’s leading platforms dedicated to mobile photography and art. Since its launch in 2009, TheAppWhisperer has become an international hub for artists of all levels to discover, learn, exhibit, and engage with contemporary photographic practice.Built on principles of inclusivity, accessibility, and artistic excellence, Joanne has spent almost two decades championing mobile photography as a serious artistic medium. Through interviews, critical essays, exhibitions, competitions, and education, she has helped shape and document the evolution of mobile art on a global scale.Her work has taken her internationally, lecturing on photography and mobile art at institutions and events including the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, alongside appearances in the UK and Europe. She has served as a juror for international photography and mobile art awards across Portugal, Canada, the United States, South Korea, Italy, and the UK.Joanne is also the founder of *TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com*, one of the first online galleries dedicated exclusively to collectible mobile art, connecting artists with collectors across Europe, the United States, and Asia.Before founding TheAppWhisperer, Joanne worked extensively in print journalism and photographic publishing, including roles at a paparazzi photo agency and as deputy editor of a leading photography magazine. Her freelance journalism, criticism, and commentary have been published widely in both the UK and the US, with bylines in *The Times*, *The Sunday Times*, *The Guardian*, *Popular Photography*, *NikonPro*, *DPReview*, *Which?*, *Vogue Italia*, *LensCulture*, the *BBC*, and more recently, the *Financial Times*, where her published letters on photography continue to contribute to wider conversations around the medium.Alongside her editorial and curatorial work, Joanne’s own photographic practice has been exhibited internationally across the UK, Europe, South Korea, and the United States. Her work increasingly explores themes of grief, loss, death, memory, and the body.Her current research interests centre on grief, death, and poverty, with forthcoming postgraduate study leading towards doctoral research in these areas.Joanne is currently developing new long-form writing and photographic projects and is available for commissions, editorial projects, speaking engagements, and collaborations.Contact: joannetheappwhisperer@gmail.com)

One Comment

  • Laurence Zankowski

    Joanne,

    VSCO recently selected one of my images to be part of their curated online galley. This investment means they are going big. I like how they do their app/filters/grid.

    Be well

    Laurence