Where’s Waldo?
Right here in Austin, Texas.
And they’ve just raised $5 million in venture capital to create a new photo-finding platform. Southern California venture capital firm Upfront Ventures led the round.
Rodney Rice and Michael Beaudoin, veteran entrepreneurs who co-founded HomeAdvisor and Einstein Bros. Bagels, founded the site to create a seamless photo-finding experience online in the highly fragmented $10 billion photography category.
Waldo Photos is expected to launch soon. Its platform is in closed beta right now, but users can sign up for its wait list. It will be a home base for photos taken of individuals by friends and professional photographers. Those photos will then be sent to a person’s smartphone. The platform lets photographers market and sell their photos in an efficient way.
“We believe Waldo can fundamentally change the way we memorialize our lives through photography,” rice, CEO and co-founder of Waldo Photos, said in a news release. “We created Waldo so users can toss their selfie sticks, keep their phones in their pockets and just live in the moment.”
“Rodney and Michael are one of the best teams I’ve worked with in my career,” Kara Nortman, partner at Upfront Ventures, said in a news release. Its past investments include Maker Studios, TrueCare and Overture.
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