Waldo Photos announced today that it has raised a $5 million seed round, led by Upfront Ventures, to fund its photo-finding platform. The company plans to use the funds to not only launch its service to the public in the next 2 to 3 months, but to also increase hiring and partnerships.
Started by Rodney Rice and Michael Beaudoin, Waldo aims to identify every photo that you’re in, regardless of whether it was taken by your friend or a professional photographer. You upload a selfie during the on-boarding process, and the program uses face recognition software, GPS, time, and album-code matching to analyze photos and trace any matches back to you.
Perhaps similar to Facebook’s Photo Magic, Waldo hopes to make it so you don’t have to track people down and remind them to share photos you’d like a copy of. When its algorithm locates a match, it sends those files directly to your phone, where you can download them yourself.
“We created Waldo so users can toss their selfie sticks, keep their phones in their pockets and just live in the moment,” said Rice in a statement. “For photographers, the Waldo platform enables them to market and sell their photos more efficiently than ever before – opening up endless opportunities.”
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The service will go live later this year and will have apps for iOS and Android, as well as a place on the Web for not only consumers, but professional photographers and organizations.
Upfront Ventures is the only institutional investor in this round, and contributed $4 million. Waldo declined to name other participants or disclose its valuation.
