Toronto-based CrowdRiff, an artificial intelligence-powered
visual content management and marketing platform for travel brands, has closed
a $9 million Series A funding round.
The round was led by Leaders Fund, with participation from
High Alpha Capital, Gibraltar & Company and BDC Capital.
The company says since 2016, when it raised $2 million in
seed funding, it has more than tripled its revenue and grown its customer base
to more than 500 travel and tourism brands in 24 countries. Clients include
WestJet, Destination British Columbia and the Netherlands Board of Tourism and
Conventions.
This new funding will be used to add more customers around the
world and develop new products.
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“Visuals are the language of modern-day travelers,” says Dan
Holowack, CEO and co-founder of CrowdRiff.
“Around the world, it’s visual content that most heavily
influences where people choose to travel and how they spend their money while
abroad. We’re thrilled to accelerate our innovation and expansion in the travel
sector and further enable travel brands and their agencies to effectively use
visuals to attract and engage people throughout the travel buyer journey.”
CrowdRiff says it has processed more than 500 million images
to date. The platform combines content discovery, digital asset management and
content delivery tools to help marketers source and share user-generated, professional
and stock photography.
“In a short period of time, CrowdRiff-sourced content is
reaching millions of travelers every month who are at the beginning of their
trip discovery process and is resulting in more travel bookings for its
customers,” says Gideon Hayden, co-founder and partner at Leaders Fund.
“The team has a relentless focus on customer satisfaction
and enabling travel brands to tell their stories in a vastly more compelling
way. We are excited to support them on this journey.”