Some big news...
Corbis, one of the world's leading visual media providers, has invested in Demotix.
What this means for us as a company, for our contributors, and for what Demotix stands for is - we feel - tremendous.
Since our launch in January 2009, Demotix has grown organically thanks to our community's enormous talent and support.
Together, we have won awards, been covered by the world's media, scooped huge news stories from Boston to Oslo to Tehran, and have sold Demotix images and video in every corner of the globe. What we have achieved is entirely thanks to the extraordinary work of our 25,000+ users, and the dedication of the fantastic team here. It has been an extraordinary experience.
With Corbis at our side - as investors, but also as deeply committed Media Partners distributing our reporters' work around the globe - we can begin a new phase of growth. Corbis' administrative, financial and sales support gives Demotix the opportunity and resources to compete at the highest level. It reinforces our commitment to a democratised news space, and offers our community a truly global reach.
We'll be announcing a whole series of improvements in the weeks and months to come, but for now I just wanted to share the great news!
Onwards and Upwards - Hasta la revolucion siempre!
Turi
PS. We've opened a Forum post on the Corbis-Demotix partnership here. If you have any questions, jump in: we'll be floating around over the next days.
Also - Juliette and Turi will be at Perpignan's Visa Pour L'Image. Please come and find us!
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The Official Press Release is below:
Corbis invests in Demotix following global distribution agreement
LONDON, UK (August 24, 2011) – Corbis Images (www.corbisimages.com), a leading visual media provider for the creative community, today announced that it has made an undisclosed investment in Demotix (www.demotix.com), the multi-award winning open news platform, following the media distribution partnership between the two companies announced in March.
Launched in 2009, London-based Demotix is recognized as a source for breaking news photography from locations that the mainstream media struggle to reach. Demotix has a community of more than 4,500 active freelance professional and semi-professional photographers, who currently contribute nearly 25,000 images monthly. Demotix has community-based journalists in almost every country around the world, with particularly comprehensive networks in Europe, the Middle East and Asia – locations that complement Corbis’ existing network strengths in the Americas.
“Our investment in Demotix illustrates not only the quality of Demotix’s local photographers, but Corbis’ commitment to providing global Media outlets with an even deeper selection of exceptional breaking news imagery from sources that reach places where mainstream suppliers cannot offer coverage,” said Gary Shenk, CEO of Corbis. “Combined with our recent cross-distribution partnership with the Associated Press and acquisition of Splash News, Corbis’ comprehensive Media offering now covers each subject and industry vertical to provide the most compelling end-to-end offering in the market today.”
Demotix has been recognised with numerous global awards, including the Media Guardian Innovation Award for Independent Media 2009 and its images have featured on the front pages of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Guardian, as well as CNN, NBC, the BBC, and other national news outlets.
“The investment by Corbis is a real stepping-stone for Demotix as we continue to build awareness of our capabilities, as well as grow our network of photographers who currently contribute cutting-edge imagery from Tehran to Tucson,” said Turi Munthe, CEO, Demotix. “The investment will also give us the opportunity to strengthen the infrastructure and technology that supports our journalists around the world.”
Corbis offers a limited selection of the most exceptional breaking news images from the Demotix collection through corbisimages.com.
Corbis will highlight the significance of today’s announcement and the broader transformation of its Media business during a registration-only presentation on September 1, hosted by Corbis’ CEO, Gary Shenk at Visa Pour l’Image, the industry’s largest international photojournalism event held annually in Perpignan, France. Shenk’s presentation will also discuss the future of media and showcase new frontiers in photojournalism. Please click here to request registration.
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About Corbis Images
Corbis Images is a leading visual media provider for advertising, marketing and media professionals, providing a comprehensive selection of stock photography and illustrations. Corbis Images has exceptional creative, documentary, archival, fine art, current events, and entertainment images to help the creative community produce distinctive work for web sites, magazines, newspapers, books, television, and films. Corbis Images serves its global customer base through its renowned Sales & Service teams and its fast, intuitive web site at www.corbisimages.com. Corbis has offices in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia that serve more than 50 countries.
About Demotix
Demotix is a multi-award winning global photojournalism newswire. With over 4,500 active photojournalists around the world, Demotix images have appeared on the front pages of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Guardian and elsewhere, and in print, broadcast and online media all over the globe. With an archive of over 500,000 news images, one of the largest networks of photojournalists and a monthly growth rate of 25,000 images, Demotix has been called "Journalism for the 21st Century" by the Daily Telegraph, and TechCrunch has reported that "Demotix [is] reinventing the newswire". For more information, visit www.demotix.com.
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