Stock image service Shutterstock files $115M IPO

Shutterstock, a stock photography service, filed paperwork today with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering worth $115 million.

Shutterstock provides organizations with royalty-free stock images and photography that can be used for advertisements, artwork, promotions, and general editorial purposes. The company, which has 550,000 paying customers, currently has more than 19 million images available in a variety of sizes and file types, such as the larger .tiff and vector images that print publications need. [Disclosure: Shutterstock provides VentureBeat with a limited number of images for free.]

Shutterstock’s total revenue has grown from $61.1 million in 2009 to $83.0 million in 2010 and $120.3 million in 2011 — representing a compound annual growth rate of 40.3 percent since 2009, according to the S-1 filing.

The company will use money from the IPO for operational purposes, as well as possibly acquiring other companies that are strategic to its current business. Shutterstock’s stock will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange with the symbol of SSTK.

The exact number of shares and price per share for the IPO have yet to be determined. For the transaction, the company has hired Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank Securities, and Jefferies, with  RBC Capital Markets, Stifel Nicolaus Weisel, and William Blair acting as co-managers.

Image via Oleksiy Mark / Shutterstock