London, July 19 2007 – Leading European service for online photo sharing, storing and printing completes a new round of fund-raising for €10 million.
Created by the merger of Photoways and Photobox last year, Photoways Group announced today the completion of a new round of funding for €10 million. New investor HarbourVest Partners LLC, Boston, is leading the Series B round, with early investors – Index Ventures and Highland Capital Partners – also participating. In conjunction with the financing, HarbourVest’s Peter Lipson, Principal, is joining the Company’s Board of Directors.
The Photoways Group intends to use these funds to capitalize on its leading market position and accelerate its continued growth across Europe. The company is developing new sites, launching innovative photographic products and investing in additional production capacity to meet increasing demand for its products and services.
“We’re committed to driving the online revolution in the world of digital photography,” stated Stan Laurent, CEO of the Photoways Group. “This additional funding will help us strengthen our leadership of our market via great customer service and product innovation. We’re pleased with HarbourVest’s commitment to our business and the renewed confidence and continuous support from our early investors, Highland Capital and Index Ventures.“
The European market for online photo printing has seen double-digit growth rates in the past few years as a result of innovative new services and higher penetration of both digital cameras and broadband. Photoways also recognized early-on the multi-billion market opportunity in products such as photo-books, personalized calendars, or greeting cards which, in many cases, it was the first to introduce to its audience of over 4 million members. The group generated nearly €30 million in revenue in 2006, up 50% on 2005.
About Photoways/Photobox:
The Photoways group was founded in 1999 in France and rapidly expanded into 15 European countries. It pioneered online photo services in Europe with online printing, storing and sharing services for digital photos before extending its range to innovative products such as photo-books, calendars, and greeting cards. The company markets its services under the Photobox, Photoways and Pixdiscount brands.
The company strengthened its leadership of the European market by merging with Photobox, the leading UK service, in April 2006. The group is backed by leading Venture Capital firms Index Ventures, Highland Capital and HarbourVest. Pierre Chappaz, founder of Kelkoo, is Chairman of the Board and Stan Laurent, formerly Chief Operating Officer at AOL Europe, is President & C.E.O.
For more information visit main websites www.photobox.com or www.photoways.com.
About HarbourVest:
HarbourVest Partners, LLC is an independent global private equity investment firm and an SEC registered investment advisor, providing vehicles for institutional investors to invest in the venture capital and buyout markets in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere through primary partnerships, secondary purchases, and direct investments. HarbourVest and its subsidiaries have 166 employees, including 62 investment professionals deployed in Boston, London, and Hong Kong. In 25 years of investing in private equity, the team has committed more than $15.7 billion to newly formed funds, representing relationships with 200 private equity managers. The team has also completed over $3.8 billion in secondary purchases of partnership interests and invested $2.7 billion directly in operating companies. The firm’s clients consist of 240 institutional investors, including pension funds, endowments, foundations, and financial institutions throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia, and Japan. To learn more about HarbourVest, visit www.harbourvest.com. This communication has been approved for issue in the United Kingdom by HarbourVest Partners (U.K.) Limited, which is regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
About Highland Capital Partners:
Highland Capital Partners was founded with the mission of helping great people build great companies. Since its inception in 1988, the firm has taken a sector-focused approach to investing in exceptional communications, consumer, digital media, healthcare and information technology companies. With $3 billion of committed capital, Highland has invested in and worked to create such firms as Altiga Networks, Ask Jeeves, Avid Technology, Be Free, CheckFree, Conor Medsystems, Continental Cable, EXACT Sciences, Helicos BioSciences, Lycos, MapQuest, Ocular Networks, Odyssey Healthcare, Starent Networks, Sybase, Telica, VistaPrint and WebLine Communications. For more information, visit Highland’s web site at www.hcp.com.
About Index Ventures:
Index Ventures is a leading European venture capital firm active in technology venture investing since 1996. The firm is dedicated to helping top entrepreneurial teams in the Information Technology and Life Science sectors build their companies into market defining global leaders. The firm has offices in Geneva, London and Jersey and focuses its investment activity primarily on Europe and Israel. Investments include Skype (the pioneering communications company acquired by eBay); MySQL (the world’s most popular open source database) and Last.fm (the world’s largest social music platform, recently acquired by CBS). For more information, please visit www.indexventures.com
Source< Photo News Today>
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