Some big-name Internet entrepreneurs are pumping $35 million U.S. into one of the web's hottest crowd sourcing sites - a graphic design service co-founded in Vancouver.
The company, 99designs, is the world's largest online marketplace of its kind - a $1 million-a-month venue where businesses looking for logos and web designs can affordably tap the skills of more than 100,000 graphic designers worldwide who bid on contracts posted on the site.
Many independent graphic designers worry that this kind of outsourcing threatens their livelihood, but the site has struck a chord with small businesses on tight budgets. According to a news release announcing 99designs has played host to more than 75,000 design contests since its founding in February 2008.
The $35 million first-round investment announced on Thursday puts two members of lead investor Accel Partners onto 99designs' board of directors.
Others investors include some Internet heavy hitters.
They are: former eBay executive Michael Dearing (formerly with eBay and now leading early-stage investor Harrison Metal Capital), Dave Goldberg (CEO of Survey Monkey), Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield (now leading online game developer Tiny Speck), and Anthony Casalena (CEO of Squarespace web design service.)
99designs is the brainchild of Vancouver's Matt Mickiewicz and Mark Harbottle of Melbourne, Australia - who previously established sitepoint.com, an information provider for professional web designers.
"The new capital will be invested in international expansion, platform development, community initiatives like design scholarships, and aggressive hiring in San Francisco and Melbourne," 99designs announced.
"We really think there is a tremendous opportunity to grow the business," Mickiewicz said in a telephone interview. "We've established a business model. We've established the economics of how the company and the marketplace works.
"Now it's really about scaling, and we need money to scale."
He said Accel has "a real knack for helping business grow and scale up really quickly."
Accel Partner Andrew Braccia said in the news release that "Accel Partners has a history of investing in online businesses that cater to the ever changing needs of small business owners and independent professionals.
"99designs has quickly become a global market leader in its category, providing an invaluable service to its customers and their global community of design professionals. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to assist in the company's next phase of growth."
Dearing said in the release that "99designs caught my attention when I realized that nearly every one of the early stage companies and entrepreneurs I work with was turning to them to get great design work done. The team has created a marketplace that is easy for companies to get on-board with, and is also a boon for designers who can go after any of the hundreds of jobs open at any one time."
Harbottle said in the release that he's "thrilled that Accel see the same potential in 99designs that we do. This obviously presents a fantastic opportunity for the 99designs team, but I'm most excited about what we have in store for our loyal community of designers, and the hundreds of thousands of businesses around the world who use 99designs.com. I'm looking forward to the next chapter."
Patrick Llewellyn, 99designs CEO said in the release that the financing "pushes forward with expansion in several key areas."
We now have the benefit of our talented and dedicated team, coupled with the best technology investors around. The board and shareholder advisers we have in place provide us with exceptional experience and insight to help guide our future growth."
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