Union Square Ventures investment will accelerate growth; soona revenue increased by 400% in 2020
soona, the world’s first virtual content creation platform for e-commerce, announced it has raised $10.2M in Series A funding, led by Union Square Ventures. soona’s technology powers virtual photo and video shoots, transforming the way brands create content for e-commerce and marketing. The company will use the funding to expand its proprietary Camera-to-Cloud technology and introduce a subscription product. soona solves three main problems associated with brand content by delivering high-quality creative from professional crews, a quick 24-hour turnaround time, and transparent pricing — all within one collaborative and intuitive platform.
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“There is a huge opportunity to meet the demand of e-commerce brands as this category continues to grow. soona has already achieved exceptional organic growth and high customer retention, and we’re thrilled to support this team.”
“Two-thirds of a customer’s online shopping decisions come down to the photos they see. Content is essential for brands to compete online and soona is the first product to combine quality, speed and price,” said Liz Giorgi, co-founder and CEO of soona. “If you’re launching a business, growing rapidly online, or expanding into new channels and markets, soona is the right solution. We are replacing the most painful and fragmented parts of content creation, which is an outdated and expensive process.”
Consumers spent over $860B online in 2020, up nearly 45 percent year over year, and soona is improving the way brands get new products online and available to consumers faster. soona’s platform helps businesses meet the growing demand for quality e-commerce visuals by upending the traditional model. The platform provides professional, affordable custom content with an unprecedented 24-hour delivery time, cutting down on the lengthy cycle that can add weeks or months to production. The need for innovation in producing content for the e-commerce stack is evident by soona’s growth, which increased 400 percent in 2020 and is on track to do the same again in 2021.
“soona’s technology solves for the missing piece of the e-commerce stack,” said Rebecca Kaden, Managing Partner at Union Square Ventures. “There is a huge opportunity to meet the demand of e-commerce brands as this category continues to grow. soona has already achieved exceptional organic growth and high customer retention, and we’re thrilled to support this team.”
“We’re using technology to scale creativity and making high-quality content accessible to all brands through our shoppable and interactive interface,” said Hayley Anderson, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of soona. “By leveraging our proprietary technology, we are helping clients eliminate the physical and human limitations that exist within the content industry.”
How soona works:
- Clients simply book a shoot within soona’s self-service software, choose from curated designs or take a style quiz to uncover their brand’s visual personality, and select from its network of models, stylists and props.
- Customers ship their products and join their shoot online in real-time. Clients are obsessed with their virtual shoots because it allows them to give feedback to the crew like they would on an in-person set and see immediate changes and improvements on the dashboard.
- The a-la carte model of selling photos for $39 and video clips for $93 also means brands only purchase the content they love, and get it back within 24 hours.
- Brands can easily organize content within the platform, revisit previous shoots, download any of the content they’ve previously purchased, and shop their past shoots for more content at any time.
- With soona’s 5-star rated Shopify app, brands can then swap content into their store and product listing pages in just one click.
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