Company:123RF
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Stock photography, stock footage, stock music |
| Fate | Active |
| Founded | 3 April 2005 |
| Founder | Andy Sitt, Stephanie Sitt |
| Headquarters | Selangor, Malaysia |
Number of employees | 350 (2015) |
| Parent | Inmagine Group |
| Website | 123rf |
123RF (Part of Inmagine Group) is a stock photos agency founded in 2005 which sells royalty-free images and stock photography. In the past few years, 123RF expanded the portfolio to serve the growing market of the web-based content industry. In addition to over 200 million images in its library, the company also has a large collection of vector graphics, icons, fonts, videos and audio files. The marketing is mainly carried out by about 350 employees from 40 offices around the world.[1]
History
In 2000, the founder, Andy Sitt, had just left his job at a British company that sold stock images in CDs while showing customers printed catalogs. Andy launched his e-commerce business by setting up Inmagine, selling premium large-format photo prints. Together with Stephanie Sitt as a co-founder and current CEO,[2] Inmagine Group is one of the few technology companies to have bootstrapped globally from Asia.
From the beginning, Inmagine produced proprietary content, which required in-house photographers, graphic designers, professional models, makeup artists, and a sales team to cater to demand.
In 2005, Inmagine set up 123RF, which offers royalty-free stock images, videos, as well as audio clips, from just US$1 to US$3 apiece. Unlike the previous business model, 123RF allows photographers around the world to sell their work on the platform under a crowdsourcing model.[3]
In 2011, Inmagine established a global presence with 44 regional offices worldwide,[4] with offices in North and Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Australasia[5]
Subsequently, Inmagine Group has expanded by building new businesses such as Stockunlimited.com, Designs.net. In addition, the company also acquired TheHungryJPEG.com, Craftbundles.com, Pixlr.com, Vectr.com, and Storyandheart.com in 2017.[6]
In 2019, Inmagine had also consolidated and streamlined its offerings into three main products; 123RF, Pixlr, and Designs.ai, along with launching Pixlr Market (now Stock by Pixlr) and Pixlr Editor.[7]
That following year in 2020, the company launched its first artificial intelligence platform, Inmagine Brain.[8] In November 2020, the company confirmed that it had been subject to a data breach, with 8.3 million customer records from the breach available for sale on the dark web.[9]
Through 123RF, Inmagine created a visual guide in 2021 to predict image search trends and colors that will be used throughout the year.[10]
In June 2022, the company launched its free images section, where audiences can download images for free, but with only a limited amount of daily downloads[11]
Acquisitions
In March 2017, 123RF acquired TheHungryJPEG, a UK-registered font and graphics marketplace and its sister company Craftbundles for an undisclosed sum.[12][13]
In April 2017, 123RF acquired Pixlr, an online web-based image editor from Autodesk for an undisclosed sum.[14]
In November 2017, 123RF acquired Vectr, a web-based vector editor and Story & Heart, a video education platform.[15]
References
- ↑ "Malaysian stock photo startup 123RF acquires TheHungryJPEG with plans to go IPO". VC News Network. http://www.vcnewsnetwork.com/malaysian-stock-photo-startup-123rf-acquires-thehungryjpeg-with-plans-to-go-ipo/.
- ↑ Tan, Tee May (2017-10-11). "5 Of The Most Common Startup Pain Points—Solved By This M'sian Startup Worth US$220 Mil" (in en-US). Vulcan Post. https://vulcanpost.com/623351/123rf-stephanie-sitt-inmagine-group-startup/.
- ↑ "How Malaysian husband and wife bootstrapped one of the world's top stock image players". Tech in Asia. https://www.techinasia.com/malaysian-husband-wife-bootstrapped-worlds-top-stock-image-players.
- ↑ Administrator, Systems. "Inmagine - About" (in en-US). https://www.inmagine.com/about/.
- ↑ Administrator, Systems. "Inmagine - Contact" (in en-US). https://www.inmagine.com/contact/.
- ↑ Administrator, Systems. "Inmagine - About" (in en-US). https://www.inmagine.com/about/.
- ↑ "This company makes content production easier with AI: Q&A with Designs.ai CEO Warren Leow" (in en). 2020-11-17. https://kr-asia.com/this-company-makes-content-production-easier-with-ai-qa-with-designs-ai-ceo-warren-leow.
- ↑ Editorial (2022-05-01). "Inmagine Evolved From A Digital Stock Photo Library To A Complete Creative Ecosystem Driven By Creativity, Technology, And Entrepreneurship" (in en-US). https://www.techcompanynews.com/inmagine-evolved-from-a-digital-stock-photo-library-to-a-complete-creative-ecosystem-driven-by-creativity-technology-and-entrepreneurship/.
- ↑ "Popular stock photo service hit by data breach, 8.3M records for sale" (in en-us). https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/popular-stock-photo-service-hit-by-data-breach-83m-records-for-sale/.
- ↑ "123RF's visual guide to image search trends and colours in 2021" (in en-gb). https://www.marketing-interactive.com/123rf-s-visual-guide-to-image-search-trends-and-colours-in-2021.
- ↑ "Free Stock Photos and Images - Download free images for free!". https://www.123rf.com/free-images.
- ↑ "Malaysian stock photo startup 123RF acquires TheHungry.JPEG to grow design resources globally". e27. https://e27.co/malaysian-stock-photo-startup-123rf-acquires-thehungry-jpeg-grow-design-resources-globally-20170309/..
- ↑ "123RF acquires design marketplace TheHungryJPEG". https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/malaysia-inmagine-acquires-online-design-marketplace-thehungryjpeg-67053/.
- ↑ "123RF acquires Pixlr, looking towards securing 50M monthly active users". e27. https://e27.co/123rf-acquires-pixlr-looking-secure-50m-monthly-active-users-20170425/.
- ↑ "Malaysia: Digital stock media firm Inmagine Group buys two US companies". https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/malaysia-inmagine-buys-us-companies-86336/.
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