Twenty20 Launches Out of Beta With the World’s Largest Crowdsourced Commercial Image Catalog, Reinventing the Way Brands, Agencies and Creatives Build Campaigns for a Mobile and Social Era

Marina Del Rey, Calif.—February 26, 2015 — Twenty20 , the largest destination for crowdsourced, real-world imagery, today announced that it’s officially launching out of beta to connect enthusiastic photographers with creative professionals. The company is also announcing $8 million in Series A funding led by Canaan Partners with participation from First Round Capital , Bullpen Capital and VersionOne Ventures . Twenty20 offers a mobile-oriented, crowdsourced approach to stock imagery, connecting businesses with beautiful, authentic, legal user-generated content.

Twenty20 has seen massive growth while still in beta. It already offers the world’s largest real-world stock image catalog . The platform boasts over 45 million photos from over 250,000 photographers in 154 countries. Twenty20 plans to use this funding to scale and open up partnership opportunities with advertising agencies and media buyers, looking to partner with artistic minds and creative influencers to craft realistic, fresh marketing and advertising and social campaigns for all types of brands.

In today’s content-filled, social media-fueled world, every company is a media company. Sites like Facebook and Twitter require brands to continually churn out creative marketing and social media content to engage their user base and connect with millennials. On the creative side, mobile photographers everywhere are looking for opportunities to spread and monetize their work. Twenty20 is the leading platform that connects advertisers and content marketers with the work of talented mobile photographers who can help satisfy the demand for engaging, user-generated content from real people. These fresh, genuine images fill the creative vacuum left by the staged, dated photos from large stock image mainstays. Works from these mobile photographers on the Twenty20 platform have already been used by brands such as West Elm , Washio and The Audience .

“ Twenty20 is here to harness the power of a mobile photo and provide a bigger stage to showcase everyday talent,” said Matt Munson, founder and CEO of Twenty20 . “Creative brands and agencies are looking for original image content from real people, creating a more impactful and sincere relationship with their customers. We are excited to use this funding round to grow Twenty20 and develop key partnerships to continue to provide the most authentic creative in the world.”

“We’re in a new era of constant content curation and distribution that must feel authentic and connect with consumers,“ said Maha Ibrahim, general partner at Canaan Partners . ”Meanwhile, user-generated content is the most authentic creative in the world and has been proven to connect with consumers. Companies must keep up with this shift, or face becoming irrelevant"

The talented mobile team behind Twenty20 has created an app where consumers can make money from their personal photos by uploading their images directly to the platform. Creative professionals looking for content to fuel their media campaigns can purchase the images on the platform as one-off images or through a monthly subscription. Twenty20 has solved the complex legal process around purchasing and marketing user-generated photos—every image on the platform is vetted by an in-house legal team, matching the high requirements of global brands and agencies.

For more information about Twenty20 , visit www.twenty20.com or download the app from the App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/twenty20/id577323200?mt=8

About Twenty20:

Twenty20 connects brands and creative agencies with authentic, real-world imagery from a global community of over 250,000 mobile photographers. We are helping the world create more authentic and beautiful websites, apps, and digital ads by providing a better source for imagery.

Contact Information

Abbie Havern

PR Manager

VSC for Twenty20

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