OCUS raises 20M€/$24M to accelerate the delivery of the best performing images at scale

PARIS, April 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Paris based OCUS™, the API for Imagery, today announced it has closed a 20M€/$24M investment led by Ring Capital and joined by A/O PropTech and Expon Capital. OCUS will further invest in product development and engineering while expanding its market presence worldwide.

The need for images is an exponential function of internet growth. Brands and eCommerce providers need to produce images at scale that are customized, of high quality and optimized for performance. Visual content is strategic in increasing engagement, offering choice and assortment, ultimately leading to higher satisfaction, brand loyalty and sales. No longer are images themselves sufficient, business intelligence and analytics are required to deliver results in online markets. 

"As long-term partners to OCUS, we are delighted to accompany them in this important development phase, supporting their growth around the world and contributing to the creation of a global champion designing an exhilarating and entirely new category," said Geoffroy Bragadir and Thomas Marsal from Ring Capital.

With COVID accelerating digitization in global markets, OCUS leads the FoodTech/Delivery industry today and sees acceleration in eCommerce Marketplaces, Real Estate, Travel, Tourism and Hospitality. Focusing on enterprise clients, OCUS is the technology partner to Google, Radisson, Grubhub, Yemeksepeti and Foodpanda around the world in producing the most powerful images for their brands. 

OCUS has developed a robust API-first platform augmented with machine learning and image recognition to deliver optimized images which automate and streamline operations for their clients. The result delivers intelligent images within hours or days. Combined with the OCUS Community of 30,000 global Image Creators™ in photography, videography, and drone, OCUS can service its clients in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

"OCUS is thrilled to have Expon and A/O PropTech join the board, along with Ring Capital and our historical investors Sofiouest, Evolem and Anaxago," said Thibaud Lemonnier, Co-founder and CEO. "Their confidence and support in OCUS enable us to continue designing the future of imagery in a fair and scalable way."

"We are excited to partner with OCUS and are impressed with their leading enterprise imagery platform delivering successes with FoodTech and Hospitality customers today. We believe OCUS has the technological strength to scale and service many other industries with state-of-the-art visual content." - Othmane Zrikem, Chief Data Officer, A/O Proptech

On this operation, OCUS has been advised by EKA Partners, Orrick and Velvet Avocats.

About OCUS

OCUS enables the world's largest companies to seize the power and performance of visual content to grow their businesses and delight their customers. OCUS combines its technology with its creative community of 30,000 to deliver brand imagery at scale.

About Ring Capital

Ring Capital is an investment ecosystem dedicated to fast growing tech and digital scale-ups. Ring Capital's first fund of € 165M is positioned in the growth private equity segment. The team invests the funds by acquiring minority interests of € 3 to 15M in tech and digital companies to help them grow and scale through internationalization and external growth. http://www.ringcp.com

About Expon Capital

Expon Capital is a privately-owned Venture Capital firm dedicated to the financing of big ideas with the potential for positive impact & exponential growth. Based in Luxembourg, the firm invests from an early stage in some of the most promising companies from Europe, the US and Israel. www.exponcapital.com

About A/O Proptech

A/O PropTech is Europe's largest Proptech venture capital firm investing in technology companies disrupting the real estate industry. A/O's mission is to transform real estate into a more digital, efficient, and accessible industry and to accelerate the decarbonization of the largest asset class in the world. A/O has recently become the first VC to join the World Economic Forum (WEF) as a member of its Global Innovators Community. www.aoproptech.com

About Evolem

Evolem Start is the venture capital arm of Evolem family office (850M€ in Asset Under Management). Evolem was founded by an entrepreneur (Bruno Rousset, founder of insurance group April) to help other entrepreneurs execute their vision. Evolem Start is sector agnostic and invests up to 3M€ in seed and series A round of french fast growing companies.

About Anaxago

Anaxago develops strong expertise in the field of capital investment in young innovative companies, particularly in the health, finance and "proptech" sectors. 

About Sofiouest

Sofiouest is a private equity and real estate investment company, with a particular focus on late stage startups. For more information visit www.sofiouest.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1493724/OCUS_International_Explansion_Infographic.jpg