Seeking to streamline the workflow of the creative economy, Collato raises €4.2 million

Collato wants to help creators manage their creative work, without the chaos that often ensues. To this end, the Berlin-based startup has raised €4.2 million in a seed funding round. The money will be used to double the workforce to 32 staff members, as the company has ambitious platform innovation and growth targets on its plate.

Beginning in May of last year, CEO Ivo Scherkamp (Ex-VP Zalando) and CTO Sebastian Bojahr (Ex-CTO Everestate) set out to help marketers and content creators collaborate more effectively. Covering the gamut from video to design to text, Collato is removing the complexity of going from brief to feedback to file-sharing while decision-makers.

The project isn’t simply a concept created by the founders. After some 500+ interviews and tests with users, Collato feels as though they’ve struck the perfect blend to make the back and forth simplified.

Users are able to comment on any media file directly, and projects can be organized with assigned tasks, workflows, and Kanban boards. Creative deliverables and all previous versions are stored in the cloud and remain discoverable with meta-information intact. External partners get access to selected content with a link that allows them to contribute even without their own customer account.

The service has been in private beta for the past 9 months, and as of today is now open to the public.

Collato’s €4.2 million seed funding round was led by Redalpine, with participation from angel investors Robert Gentz,  founder and Co-CEO of Zalando, and Rubin Ritter, Zalando’s former Co-CEO.

"Fresh, creative content is fueling the digital economy and the volume is growing exponentially. Processes are today more collaborative, asynchronous and globally distributed than ever before,” commented Redalpine’s Sebastian Becker. “Both trends increase the complexity to a point, where they can hardly be handled in traditional ways. There needs to be an integrated tool, to productively support collaboration along the entire journey of an asset and I believe that Collato can become that place.”