Confirmed: Photoroom, the AI Image Editor, Secures $43M in Funding at a $500M Valuation

Photoroom Secures $43 Million Funding to Accelerate Growth in AI-Driven Photo Editing

Photoroom, the innovative AI-powered photo-editing app based in Paris, has officially announced the completion of its latest funding round, raising $43 million at a valuation of $500 million. CEO and co-founder Matthieu Rouif, who co-founded Photoroom alongside CTO Eliot Andres, confirmed this news. We first reported on this funding round back in January, when it initially seemed likely to exceed $50 million but ultimately landed just below that mark.

This funding arrives as Photoroom experiences significant growth in a competitive landscape that includes rivals like Picsart, which has raised nearly $200 million, and Pixelcut. The app is now processing an impressive 5 billion images annually and has surpassed 150 million downloads. It is accessible via an API and through a web interface, further expanding its user base.

Leading this funding round was Balderton Capital, joined by new investor Aglaé and previous supporter Y Combinator. While not all investors are disclosed, notable past backers include Kima Ventures, FJ Labs, Meta, and prominent angel investors such as Yann LeCun and Zehan Wang, among others. Since its founding just four years ago, Photoroom has raised a total of $64 million.

With this capital, Photoroom intends to increase its workforce and enhance its research and development initiatives. Currently employing around 50 people, the company aims to double its team by year-end, even amidst widespread layoffs in the tech sector.

Differentiating itself from many startups constructing AI applications, Photoroom is committed to training its own models from scratch. This approach necessitates substantial investment in computational power and partnerships for securing image rights from agencies and creators. The new hires will primarily focus on attracting technical talent to refine the efficiency and capabilities of its models. For example, Photoroom claims its advanced architecture can accelerate image generation for users by up to 40% compared to other visual AI platforms.

"The foundation model is the next step in empowering businesses to create stunning product photos without needing expertise in prompt engineering or photography," Rouif stated. "Our model excels in product photography and adapts swiftly to user needs and feedback."

In conjunction with its proprietary models, Photoroom is also rolling out several exciting new features. Coinciding with this funding announcement is the introduction of Photoroom Instant Diffusion, a tool designed to generate consistently styled product images for individual sellers, regardless of where or how they were captured—essentially making amateur shots resemble professionally produced photos. Other features include AI-generated backgrounds, scene expansions, and a robust suite of image-editing tools. For users dealing with large volumes of images, the app also offers bulk processing capabilities.

We hope to engage with Rouif and potentially an investor soon and will update this article as more information becomes available.

"At Balderton, we’ve closely followed Photoroom’s extraordinary journey since its beginning and are continually impressed by their commitment to a user-centric vision,” said Bernard Liautaud, managing partner at Balderton. “Photoroom’s generative AI technology is unmatched, and we are confident they will continue to set the standard in this fast-evolving field."