Across Europe, there are two sectors which are continuing to skyrocket at a remarkable pace – ecommerce and visual content. Pioneering visual content SaaS startup BOOM has just acquired LemonOne and continues to grow its groundbreaking platform.
Founded in 2018 originally out of a love for photography, BOOM quickly took off. The startup was regarded as one of Europe’s fastest-growing tech startups in 2020, and, this year the co-founders Jacopo Benedetti, Federico Mattia Dolci and Giacomo Grattirola were named in the Forbes 30 under 30 Technology List 2022. This acquisition news is another exciting milestone for this startup we’ve all had our eyes on.
Federico Mattia Dolci, CEO at BOOM said: “This is a major leap forward in BOOM’s strategy to serve the whole of Europe and beyond through our ground-breaking digital platform. We have been growing our team across Europe and the Americas, and we are now delighted to join forces with the team from LemonOne. They bring fresh energy, passion as well as a wealth of vertical expertise. We look forward to doing great things together!”
“We have always thought about BOOM’s mission in the long term to build something that innovates the market, reaching as many companies as possible, globally, and for digital businesses of all sizes and across many industries. This is what we were founded for.”
Based in Milan, BOOM was launched with the aim to transform the world of visual content management through the use of tech. It was a visionary approach, and now, just a few years later, visual content is more important than ever before – making BOOM’s offering all the more relevant. The startup has created a ‘Visual Production Platform’ which allows businesses all over the world to get visual content such as photos and videos delivered at the click of a button. Its SaaS platform offers a fast production speed and API integrations, to streamline entire photoshoot lifecycles, from booking to final delivery.
We chatted to the CEO, Federico, in 2021 and in 2020 as the team skyrocketed into Europe’s startup space. In the past three years, the Italian team has raised over €15 million and now has clients across 80 countries. Now with ecommerce heating up, more and more businesses need digital visual content.
Founded in Berlin in 2017 by Maximilian Schwahn, Lorenz Marquardt and Timur Kayaci, LemonOne has grown to serve online marketplaces, real estate agencies and food delivery companies with on-demand, tailor-made visual content for their digital presence. The startup’s platform intelligently connects companies and photographers – creating an incredibly convenient way to book photo shorts and enhance content creation.
Maximilian Schwahn, Co-Founder at LemonOne commented: “BOOM is breaking the ground to develop a revolutionary category leader in the space of visual asset management while LemonOne built a European market leader for digital photo production. By joining forces and being able to offer every company a one-stop-shop solution for booking, collaborating and publishing visuals, we are able to reach our founding vision even faster. Therefore, we are super happy to partner up with BOOM and benefit from each other’s strength to make 1+1=3 for all our customers as well as our community”.
The acquisition of LemonOne gives BOOM to tap into the booming ecommerce space. For the BOOM team, this offers a real opportunity to take control of the European visual content market and by joining forces with LemonOne, they can leverage even more capabilities and expertise.
As commented by Federico: “The backdrop to all this is that images, video, drone footage, 3d mapping of spaces for the real estate market, and so on – the demand for all these have skyrocketed in recent years, especially during the pandemic. E-Commerce is just now waking up to how much of their time and energy is spent on image and video production, and in managing their visual libraries across teams and territories.”
“We know companies are encountering real friction as they try to cope with the demand for visuals and at the same time, retain transparency, control and visibility of the entire visual content lifecycle. And, while remote working brings many benefits to companies, ours included, creative and operational teams alike are increasingly looking to technology to help them collaborate better, especially when their teams are not physically in the same space. LemonOne brings strength to our foundations in their production capacity, capabilities and the quality of their work.”
With this news, the Italian innovators are also able to open up an operational base in Berlin, tapping into the strong German economy and tech ecosystem.
Federico added: “We’re also excited to have an operational base in Berlin – a huge ecosystem for business and one that is set to grow even in the current economic climate. Our teams are based across the world and we have customers across three continents – but being able to be physically present in Berlin and use that as a base to expand further across Europe is incredibly valuable.”
This new deal, therefore, strengthens BOOM’s presence in Europe, as well as accelerates the delivery of its mission to create a scalable environment that empowers digital companies to effectively manage their full visual content lifecycle, from anywhere in the world. As ecommerce continues to be a massive growth area, and digital businesses increasingly need access to quality visual content, it’s an exciting deal for Europe’s ecosystem.
Fritz Oidtmann, Managing Partner at Acton Capital added: “Visual assets are a key driver of online commerce. In the last years, LemonOne’s team has worked tirelessly to provide clients all over Europe with high-quality bespoke visual content. Now, we’re very excited to be joining forces with BOOM as their powerful SaaS platform brings the complete visual assets life cycle to a new level. The combined strengths of the two companies are a big win for all current and future customers.”
LemonOne’s clients will join BOOM’s network of customers, which already includes names such as Treatwell and Houzz, on the BOOM Worksite, a centralised platform that enables digital enterprises to organise, share and collaborate on visual assets with internal and third parties.
As per the deal, the Italian and German teams will pool together their respective teams, boosting capacity to service a growing customer base and enabling the company to focus on growing its technology and product teams as well as developing the platform even further. In addition, LemonOne’s photographers will join BOOM’s community of visual content creators.