Wellington Partners and Passion Capital back EyeEm

Both firms co-led the round, which was confirmed to be worth less than £5m. Wellington sourced the deal directly and invested via the Wellington Partners IV Technology vehicle, which closed on €265m in 2008.

Passion Capital provided equity via its maiden fund, which closed on £37.5m earlier this year. Commitments came from the private sector, family funds and high-net-worth individuals, but the UK Government also invested £25m in the vehicle via the tenth Enterprise Capital Fund.

Christophe Maire, EyeEm's executive chairman, also invested in the round. The backers were attracted by EyeEm's concept and the way it leverages the current interest in social media and photo sharing.

Company
Founded in February 2011, EyeEm is a free-to-download photo-sharing application for smartphones. EyeEm automatically learns about the user's tastes to recommend albums of similar photos from other users around the world.

The solution automatically categorises images into topical photo streams, which enables users to discover places, topics and events, and thus to customise their photo feed based on interests.

Berlin-based EyeEm currently employs six staff and will look to expand its workforce to accompany the product's rollout.

People
Stefan Glaenzer led the deal for Passion. Wellington was represented by Daniel Waterhouse, who will join the company's board following the investment. Florian Meissner is co-founder and managing director of EyeEm.

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