123RF
Stock photography agency founded in 2005
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
123RF is a company that sells stock photography, stock footage, and stock music. The two co-founders are Andy Sitt and Stephanie Sitt, who is the current CEO.[1]
 | |
Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Stock photography, stock footage, stock music |
| Founded | 3 April 2005 |
| Founder | Andy Sitt, Stephanie Sitt |
| Fate | Active |
| Headquarters | Selangor, Malaysia |
Number of employees | 350 (2015) |
| Parent | Inmagine Group |
| Website | www |
History
In 2000, 123RF Andy Sitt left his job at a British company that sold stock images in CDs while showing customers printed catalogs. He launched an e-commerce business by setting up Inmagine, selling large-format photo prints.
In 2005, Inmagine set up 123RF, which sells royalty-free stock images, videos, and audio clips. Unlike the previous business model, 123RF allows photographers to sell their work on the platform under a crowdsourcing model.[2]
In 2011, Inmagine established a global presence with 44 regional offices worldwide.[3] Offices were founded in North and Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Australasia.[4]
In 2019, Inmagine consolidated and streamlined what it does into three main products: 123RF, Pixlr, and Designs.ai. The launching of Pixlr Market (now Stock by Pixlr) and Pixlr Editor commences.[5]
In 2020, the company launched its first artificial intelligence platform, Inmagine Brain.[6] In November 2020, the company confirmed that it had been subject to a data breach, with 8.3 million customer records available for sale on the dark web.[7]
Through 123RF, Inmagine created a visual guide in 2021 to predict image search trends.[8]
In June 2022, the company launched a free images section where audiences can download images with a limited amount of daily downloads.[9]
Acquisitions
In March 2017, 123RF acquired TheHungryJPEG, a UK-registered font and graphics marketplace and its sister company Craftbundles for an undisclosed sum.[10][11]
In April 2017, 123RF acquired Pixlr, an online web-based image editor from Autodesk for an undisclosed sum.[12]
In November 2017, 123RF acquired Vectr, a web-based vector editor and Story & Heart, a video education platform.[13]