The Barcelona 'startup' Photoslurp joins the Swedish Flowbox

When one uploads a photograph or a video to social media with a product and tags the brand, companies like Photoslurp detect it and offer it to brands as material for marketing campaigns. In the case of this Barcelona-based startup, it has a portfolio made up of companies such as Kave Home, Pronovias, Meller, Havaianas, Benetton, Yves Rocher, Isdin, Deporvillage, Absolut Vodka, and Lekué. Photoslurp's clients only use the materials if they like them and if the users, who receive nothing in return, allow them to do so.

The company began selling its software designed for online businesses in 2015. The first years were financed with the co-founders' own resources, Ben Heinkel and Eulogi Bordas, and the income it was generating. In 2017, it closed its first round, for 750,000 euros. Inveready led the investment, accompanied by Bankinter VC, Caixa Capital Risc, and the Institut Català de Finances (ICF).

Photoslurp has just allied with the Swedish Flowbox, with very similar technical and commercial characteristics, with the aim of leading the European market. While the Barcelona-based company controlled the countries of Southern Europe, Flowbox did so in the North. As a result, both competed for the central countries. According to Bordas, the Swedish company contacted them to see if it would be more efficient to go together and, after studying it, they have decided that it should be so.

Photoslurp will become 100% owned by Flowbox, which will be the brand that will remain. Bordas points out that "technically it is an acquisition, but it has the spirit of a merger." The predominance of Flowbox is based on the fact that the company has more than 500 clients, compared to Photoslurp's 300, with a special weight in Spain and Latin America. The Barcelona office, with 25 employees, will remain and Bordas will become Flowbox's revenue director. The Swedish company closed a 7.6 million euro round in February 2020 to accelerate its expansion, both through organic growth and acquisitions.

After the operation, the total workforce will increase to 70 employees distributed in the offices of Stockholm, Amsterdam, and Barcelona, and the combined turnover will grow to almost eight million euros. In 2021, Photoslurp generated 1.5 million euros. Bordas indicates that both Photoslurp and Flowbox are close to reaching profitability.