Pond5 raises $61M to unseat Shutterstock as the stock media king

Stock video and photo site Pond5 just raised its first institutional funding round: a hefty $61 million led by Accel and Stripes Group.

In a vague statement, the company shares that its new capital will be used to drive “global growth, hiring, and product development.” Pond5 touts that its collection of 15 million media clips and “millions of stock photos” positions the company as a “key creative resource for the global media production industry.” Yet, these figures fall short when compared to competitors like Shutterstock. Shutterstock claims to sell “over 35 million stock photos, vectors, videos, and music tracks” on its site.

But for Pond5, its close relationship with content creators apparently helps it stand out. “Our mission since day one,” says Pond5 chief Tom Bennett, “has been to build the world’s most vibrant, artist­ friendly marketplace for creativity. We thought very carefully about the kind of partners we wanted to join us, and we couldn’t be more excited to team up with Accel and Stripes for the next phase of our adventure.”

Among its investors, Accel’s John Locke gave Pond5 quite the endorsement, likening its marketplace to Etsy:

“Pond5 has organically built a community of artists and creators that is as passionate about the site as some of the best marketplaces we’ve backed, including Etsy. We’re thrilled to be a part of this team going forward.”