Thursday, October 11, 2018
Catalog Collects $1.5M For AI Software For Visual Artists
Los Angeles-based Catalog, a startup developing artificial intelligence software to help independent visual artists scale their content production efforts, has raised $1.5M in a seed funding round. The funding was led by Moonshots Capital, and also included Techstars and Luma Launch. The startup--led by Patrick Ip--develops software to automate the creation of custom visual content for brands. According to the startup, its system helps manage access to creators who can meet a brand's aesthetic, and automates the creation of content from those creators handling everything from negotiation, usage rights, and legal and compliance--making the cost of product photos as little as only $20 per photo, a dramatic reduction in cost from the thousands that it typically costs using a traditional agency. The company said it has pilots now with Sony Music and National Geographic. As part of the funding, Kelly Perdew of Moonshots Capital joins the company's board; the company says it also previously raised funding from Day One Ventures, Greedy Fish Ventures, Mikhail Naumov, Eric Siu, and Jonathan Berent, Director of Global Customer Experience at Google. Ip was previously a Google Innovation Lead, where he was part of the Google One Billion Acts Of Peace project, which was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.