Soona, a Minneapolis- and Denver-based same-day photo startup that makes content for e-commerce companies, has closed on $10.2 million round of venture financing led by New York City-based Union Square Ventures, it announced Friday.
Other participants in the round included Soona's existing investors Minneapolis-based Matchstick Ventures, Chicago-based Starting Line Ventures, New York City-based 2048 Ventures and Denver-based Range Ventures. You can read Soona's Form D filing here.
Soona will use the cash to build out the Camera-to-Cloud technology used to power its virtual photoshoots. It's also looking at creating what it calls a "digital fulfillment studio" for virtual shoots in the Twin Cities. That studio will create about 60 jobs, Soona CEO Liz Giorgi said.
Related: Soona was named one of Minne Inno's Startups to Watch for 2021.
Soona pivoted from in-person shoots towards virtual photoshoots because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Giorgi said. While it has three retail locations in Minneapolis, Denver and Austin, Texas, those locations had to be repurposed to running virtual shoots during the pandemic.
In a virtual shoot, e-commerce companies send their products to Soona, then log in to Soona's Camera-to-Cloud software to see the photos and videos in real-time as they are taken. They can also provide feedback and suggestions to Soona employees as the photos are taken. Customers only need to pay for the photos they want.
“We’ve learned that the remote-shoot experience is the wave of the future and it's what we’re going to continue to expand upon," Giorgi said.
Soona had about 4,000 customers in 2020, including well-known brands like Wild Earth and Birchbox. It hopes to pull in four times as many customers in 2021, Giorgi said.
Soona has now raised at least $14.9 million, including a $3.5 million seed round in 2020 led by Matchstick Ventures and Starting Line, and a $1.2 million seed round in 2019, also led by Matchstick. It has 53 employees.
