GotPhoto gets got by EQT Growth

Berlin-based GotPhoto, aka fotograf.de in its home market, has been acquired by EQT Growth for an undisclosed figure. 

Somewhat in line with EQT Growth’s €100 million investment in IntegrityNext announced late last week, the acquisition of GotPhoto will see the latter receive an influx of capital focused on growing the company’s tech platform and adding new features, but crucially, leveraging EQT Growth’s commercial experience and connections.

The EQT Growth acquisition marks an exit for a cadre of angel investors including Project A Ventures’ founding partner Florian Heinemann.

GotPhoto operates in the niche market of school and “volume” photography, and claims to make the lives of photographers “easier and more efficient, helping them spend less time behind their desk and more time behind the lens,” which sounds great. Let's see how.

According to a statement from GotPhoto, the company offers digitisation to their workflows ranging from “photo management, photo editing, marketing automation, payment, and order fulfillment.” So, if I’m reading this correctly, basically, all a photographer has to do is set up the lights and press a button? 

But why stop there? Won’t HeadshotPro go one step further (warning: results may vary) and digitise the lighting, shutter pressing, and getting the best out of your subject? Perhaps these are the additional features hinted at above?

Founded in 2012, GotPhoto has some 4,000 customers, which the company cites as primarily SMB and “solopreneur” photographers across the US, UK, and DACH region, and according to the company “has managed to build a strong reputation as a leading vertical software solution within the people photography segment across its core markets.”

Despite countless sources citing that the photography industry is “deader that dead”, “not ded but evolving with viable options diminishing”, and “there is a definitive math out there that can't be avoided”, according to GotPhoto and/or EQT Growth, when speaking to volume (i.e. school headshot photography - the company itself hosts “Summer Camp”), “it is expected that the underlying core market will grow 24% year-on-year through to 2027.” The source for this data is EQT market sizing, informed by multiple sources including research from leading management consultancies.

I've got a few photographers they should talk to ....