Pond5 Launches the Public Domain Project With 75,000 Free Media Clips

The collection includes 10,000 free video clips, all formatted in 4K or Full HD

NEW YORK, Jan. 20th, 2015. Pond5, the world’s leading online marketplace for royalty-free video footage, announced today the launch of the Pond5 Public Domain Project, the first library of free public domain content designed specifically for media makers. The initial collection includes 10,000 video clips, 65,000 photos, thousands of sound recordings, and hundreds of 3D models.

“For years, all of this amazing public domain content has been locked up and inaccessible to the average media maker,” said Pond5 cofounder and CEO Tom Bennett. “They deserve better. Our Public Domain Project empowers media makers to take advantage of this incredibly rich library that’s rightfully theirs.”

The collection includes 5,000 never-before-seen video clips, digitized directly from the National Archives outside of Washington D.C. Other video highlights include George Meliés’ 1902 film A Trip to the Moon, along with footage from the 1952 Helsinki Olympic games, the World Wars, NASA rocket launches, and the International Space Station. Speeches from historical figures like Winston Churchill and John F. Kennedy can be heard in the collection’s recordings, along with full performances from composers like Beethoven and Chopin.

Designed especially for media creators, the library’s enriched, standardized metadata allows users to easily search for content via aesthetic and technical qualities. In addition, footage sequences have been broken down into individual shots, saving video editors countless hours of work. Everything is instantly shareable and embeddable in social media and throughout the Web.

Based in New York, with offices in Geneva, Switzerland and Prague, Czech Republic, Pond5 recently raised $61 million from Accel Partners and Stripes Group. It currently employs a global team of over 80 people.

About Pond5
Pond5 is the world's most vibrant marketplace for media makers, offering the web's largest collection of royalty-free stock video footage, as well as millions of photos, illustrations, music tracks, sound effects, Adobe After Effects project templates, and 3D models. Disrupting the traditional stock agency model with an open, dynamic marketplace, Pond5 invites media makers from all over the world to submit their own content and set their own prices. Contributing artists earn 50% on each sale - significantly higher than traditional players. Submissions are curated by the Pond5 team, and made available for immediate preview, purchase and download. All content is licensed under a simple royalty-free license that provides customers lifetime, worldwide usage rights across all media. Visit www.pond5.com.

Pond5 Raises $61 Million From Accel Partners and Stripes Group

The world’s leading marketplace for video footage and stock media will use its first institutional round to fuel international growth, hire top talent and accelerate product development.


NEW YORK, NY, July 16th, 2014 -- Pond5, the world’s leading online marketplace for video footage and stock media, announced today that it has raised $61 million in equity financing from Accel Partners and Stripes Group. The funding is the first institutional investment for the company and will be used to fuel global growth, hiring, and product development.


Artists from around the world use Pond5 to upload video clips and other media, including music, photos and special effects. Those creating media projects, like films, mobile applications and video games, can then buy the royalty-free content for their own use.


“Our mission since day one has been to build the world’s most vibrant, artist-friendly marketplace for creativity,” said Pond5 CEO and co-founder Tom Bennett. “We thought very carefully about the kind of partners we wanted to join us, and we couldn’t be more excited to team up with Accel and Stripes for the next phase of our adventure.”


Pond5’s fast-growing collection of more than 15 million media clips is sourced from 30,000 artists in 127 countries and serves as a key creative resource for the global media production industry. The company’s 2.7 million videos compose the largest royalty-free video collection on the Web.


Pond5 footage has found its way into blockbuster films like Iron Man, Thor and Dallas Buyer’s Club, and hit television series like AMC’s The Walking Dead and NBC’s Saturday Night Live. Media clients include BBC, NBC, and CBS, advertising agencies like Leo Burnett and Wieden & Kennedy and a growing roster of emerging video artists on sites like YouTube and Vimeo.


“Pond5 has organically built a community of artists and creators that is as passionate about the site as some of the best marketplaces we’ve backed, including Etsy,” said John Locke, Partner at Accel Partners who will join the company’s board. “We’re thrilled to be a part of this team going forward.”


“True marketplace businesses are rarely created,” said Dan Marriott, Managing Partner of Stripes Group, who will also join the company’s board. “They are built brick by brick to serve all of their constituents equally well and have the opportunity to redefine their industries globally. We couldn’t be more proud to support such a great story and global team headquartered here in New York City.”


Based in New York, with offices in Geneva, Switzerland and Prague, Czech Republic, Pond5 has been cash-flow positive since its founding in 2006 and is doubling sales annually. The company raised a seed round of $500,000 from the New York Angels in 2008. In 2013, Pond5 acquired Pixmac, an international network of stock photos sites based in Czech Republic. It currently employs a global team of 70 people.


About Pond5

Pond5 is the world's most vibrant marketplace for media makers, offering the web's largest collection of royalty-free stock video footage, as well as millions of stock photos, illustrations, music tracks, sound effects, Adobe After Effects project templates, and 3D models. Disrupting the traditional stock agency model with an open, dynamic marketplace, Pond5 invites media makers from all over the world to submit their own content and set their own prices. Contributing artists earn 50% on each sale – significantly higher than traditional players. Submissions are curated by the Pond5 team, and made available for immediate preview, purchase and download. All content is licensed under a simple royalty-free license that provides customers lifetime, worldwide usage rights across all media.

Pond5 was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Union Square, NY, USA with offices in Geneva, Switzerland and Prague, Czech Republic. For more information, visit http://www.pond5.com.


About Accel Partners

Founded in 1983, Accel Partners has a long history of partnering with outstanding entrepreneurs and management teams to build world-class businesses. Accel today invests globally using dedicated teams and market-specific strategies for local geographies, with offices in Palo Alto, California, New York City, London and Bangalore. Accel has helped entrepreneurs build over 300 successful companies, many of which have defined their categories. For more information, please visit the Accel Partners website at http://www.accel.com. Find us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/accel.


About Stripes Group

Founded in 2003 and New York City based, Stripes Group is a leading growth equity firm that invests in Internet, Digital Media, Software and Branded Consumer Products businesses. Stripes Group partners with founder driven, profitable, market-leading companies with proven business models that are generating exceptional growth. For more information on Stripes Group, please visit http://www.stripesgroup.com.

Pond5’s Groundbreaking Plugin for Adobe® Premiere® Pro CC Launches

Video Editors Now Have Instant Access to World’s Largest Online Stock Video Collection

New York, NY, January 21, 2014. Pond5, the World’s Stock Media Marketplace, announced today that it has delivered the first official release of the Pond5 plugin (previously available only in beta), which gives editors instant access to over 2 million royalty-free video clips, music tracks, and sound effects - all from within the Adobe® Premiere® Pro CS6 and CC editing environments.

By pairing Pond5’s massive media library with Adobe’s award-winning software, Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 and CC users are now able to seamlessly make high-quality stock media content an integral part of their overall workflow. The free plugin allows video editors to easily import watermarked comps into their projects, edit and add effects, and then - with a single button - automate the entire process of purchasing, downloading, and replacing low-res previews with hi-res files.

“Editors and producers using Adobe Premiere Pro CC want creative freedom to add high-quality stock media content into their workflow,” says Al Mooney, senior product manager for Professional Video Editing at Adobe. “Adobe Premiere Pro users will appreciate Pond5’s cutting-edge product that puts the web’s largest collection of royalty-free video clips, as well as hundreds of thousands of audio clips, right at their fingertips.”

The Pond5 plugin for Adobe Premiere Pro CC is available for free download at pond5.com/adobe.

About Pond5
Pond5 is the world's most vibrant marketplace for media makers, offering the web's largest collection of royalty-free video footage, as well as millions of stock photos, vectors, music tracks, sound effects, Adobe After Effects project templates, and 3D models.

Headquartered in New York City with employees in over 14 countries around the world, Pond5 has seen accelerating growth over the past several years, with a disruptive marketplace model that lets contributors earn industry-leading royalties and set their own prices. The company also owns Pixmac, a leading stock photo marketplace based in Prague.

For more information, visit www.pond5.com, and follow Pond5 on Twitter and Facebook.

Pond5 Passes 2 Million Video Clips, Now Offering RED Native Files

New York, NY, December 11, 2013. Pond5, The World’s Stock Media Marketplace, announced today that its collection has surpassed 2 million video clips, and that Redcode RAW (R3D) -- the native format for the popular RED series of ultra-HD cameras -- is now supported on the platform (http://www.pond5.com/r3d). With the largest selection of royalty-free video on the web and the addition of RED, the production format of choice for many top filmmakers, Pond5 continues to empower media producers with its vibrant marketplace for creativity.

“RED offers stunning resolution and color depth, and enormous flexibility in post-production,” said Javier Salinas, Lead Video Curator. “We’ve been seeing an increasing amount of 4K and higher resolution footage (http://www.pond5.com/4k) coming onboard, and there’s fast-growing demand for it from our buyers. We’re proud to be leading the charge by becoming the first true marketplace to support R3D, making their pristine, customizable, professional-quality footage accessible to a wider audience.”

At 2 million clips, Pond5’s stock video collection is the largest in the world, and has doubled in size over the past year. Meanwhile, the site is seeing accelerating growth across all media types. “Thanks to the tens of thousands of artists around the world who have entrusted us to represent their content, we are rapidly expanding the size of our collection, as well as its quality and diversity,” said co-founder and CEO Tom Bennett. “We’ve found that by giving our artists greater freedom and control, we’ve ended up with higher-quality content, and more of it.”

About Pond5
Pond5 is the world's most vibrant marketplace for media makers, offering the web's largest collection of royalty-free video footage, as well as millions of stock photos, vectors, music tracks, sound effects, Adobe After Effects project templates, and 3D models.

Headquartered in New York City with employees in over 14 countries around the world, Pond5 has seen accelerating growth over the past several years, with a disruptive marketplace model that lets contributors earn industry-leading royalties and set their own prices. The company also owns Pixmac, a leading stock photo marketplace based in Prague.

For more information, visit www.pond5.com, and follow Pond5 on Twitter and Facebook.

Pond5 Acquires Pixmac and Expands International Presence

Integration Brings Over 150,000 New Users, Millions of Images, and 17 Languages to Pond5’s Marketplace for Media Makers

BROOKLYN, NY, March 5th, 2013. Pond5 Inc. and Pixmac s.r.o. announced today that they have reached a definitive agreement under which Pond5 will acquire the assets of Pixmac, a leading stock imagery network based in the Czech Republic. With millions of stock photos and illustrations distributed in 17 languages and in multiple currencies, the acquisition of Pixmac accelerates Pond5’s strategy to offer a global marketplace where media makers can connect with fellow artists, sell their stock media while earning industry-leading payouts, and license content from the world’s most comprehensive selection of creative elements for use in their own productions.

With the integration of Pixmac, Pond5’s vast selection of stock video footage, audio, images, 3D models, and motion graphics templates will be available globally across the Pixmac network of more than 20 domains, via a multilanguage, multi-currency platform. The aggregate traffic across the network will more than double Pond5’s current traffic base. The Pixmac network of local managers and reviewers will also be joining Pond5, further broadening Pond5‘s reach and bringing industry expertise from key global markets in Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

“The Pixmac team has built something truly impressive, and we are very excited to be working with them to continue to build out the world's most vibrant marketplace for media makers,” said Tom Bennett, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pond5. “The talent, technology, and community they bring will be a fantastic addition to Pond5 and a big win for our artists and our buyers.”

“We are proud of what we have achieved so far, and we are excited to see what the integration has in store for our contributors,” said Vita Valka, cofounder and Chief Executive Officer, Pixmac. “Pond5 has challenged the microstock industry by letting artists price their own content and by providing them the best royalties. They’re the most artist-friendly marketplace around, and that’s the exact model that’s going to win in the long-run. We’re thrilled to be joining forces. ”

Over 6,000 Pixmac photographers and illustrators are expected to join Pond5, bringing with them millions of images which will be available via the Pond5 website. Pixmac artists will get a substantial raise to match their Pond5 counterparts, and will earn 50% royalties on all sales.

About Pond5
Pond5 is the world's most vibrant marketplace for media makers, offering the web's largest collection of royalty-free stock video footage, as well as millions of stock photos, illustrations, music tracks, sound effects, Adobe After Effects project templates, and 3D models. Disrupting the traditional stock agency model with an open, dynamic marketplace, Pond5 invites media makers from all over the world to submit their own content and set their own prices, earning 50% on each sale – significantly higher than traditional players. Submissions are curated by the Pond5 team, and made available for immediate preview, purchase and download. All content is licensed under a simple royalty-free
license that provides customers lifetime, worldwide usage rights across all media.

Pond5 was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Brooklyn, NY, USA with offices in Geneva, Switzerland and Prague, Czech Republic. For more information, visit http://www.pond5.com.

About Pixmac
Pixmac is a global provider of stock imagery, offering millions of stock photographs and illustrations in 17 languages and multiple currencies. Based in the Czech Republic, the site was launched in 2008 and is currently home to an artist community of over 6,000 photographers and illustrators worldwide.
Some key Pixmac domains include:

http://www.pixmac.com
http://www.pixmac.at
http://www.pixmac.com.br
http://www.pixmac.cz
http://www.pixmac.de
http://www.pixmac.es
http://www.pixmac.fi
http://www.pixmac.fr
http://www.pixmac.hu
http://www.pixmac.in
http://www.pixmac.nl
http://www.pixmac.pl
http://www.pixmac.ru
http://www.pixmac.sk

Introducing the New and Improved Pond5

Brooklyn, NY, Jan. 29, 2013. Pond5, the world's most vibrant marketplace for media makers, announced today its public release of the new version “v2” of its website.

The site offers a dramatically improved experience for both customers and contributors, giving filmmakers, photographers, musicians, 3D artists, and all kinds of media makers a place to connect with fellow artists, sell their stock media, and purchase high-quality content for their productions.

Artists on Pond5 contribute to a vast, rapidly-growing repository of creative elements, which now features more than 1.5 million video clips - the largest selection of royalty-free stock footage on the web - and more than 10 million stock photos, illustrations, audio files, 3D models, and motion graphics templates - all available for instant download.

New features implemented on the site include:

• Larger, higher quality thumbnails and previews. The media is front and center, loading quickly and in high resolution. Video and audio plays back directly from search results, and watermarked previews are freely downloadable for use in mockups, rough cuts, and testing.
• Advanced Search. Media makers can quickly find what they're looking for with granular filters for media type, resolution, duration, price, aspect ratio, etc.
• Infinite Scroll. Instead of flipping page-by-page through search results and waiting for pageloads, users are now presented with a continuously loading page of content, making the search process fast and seamless – an industry first.
• Collections. Media makers can now collect, organize and share their favorite media easily and quickly using the new Collections feature. - Drag and Drop. In another first, users can now add content to their carts or collections using an intuitive drag and drop interface.
• Customized Artist Profiles. Contributors on Pond5 can promote their portfolios and build their brand more effectively with the ability to visually customize their artist pages.

“We're focused on creating the fastest, most artist-friendly platform for media makers around the world to exchange creative elements, connect with other creators, and get inspired,” says Tom Bennett, co-founder and CEO. "These latest features are a big step in that direction."

Content from Pond5 has been used in virtually every type of media project and by virtually every type of media maker, with a diverse array of more than 100,000 customers including major hollywood studios, television networks, book and magazine publishers, video game makers, bloggers, and a long list of of others.

To sign up to Pond5, visit http://www.pond5.com.

About Pond5 Inc.
Pond5 is the world's most vibrant marketplace for media makers, offering the web's largest collection of royalty-free video footage, as well as millions of stock photos, illustrations, music tracks, sound effects, Adobe After Effects project templates, and 3D models. Disrupting the traditional stock agency model with an open, dynamic marketplace, Pond5 invites media makers from all over the world to submit their own content and set their own prices, earning 50% on each sale – significantly higher than traditional players. Submissions are curated by the Pond5 team, and made available for immediate preview, purchase and download. All content is licensed under a simple royalty-free license that provides customers lifetime, worldwide usage rights across all media. Visit Pond5 at http://www.pond5.com.

Find All Stock Media in One Place – Pond5, The World´s Stock Media Marketplace, Arrives in Europe, Gives Away $10,000 in Content at the Frankfurt Book Fair

New York, NY, October 5th, 2011. Pond5, the online marketplace for stock media and creative components, announced today that its collection now includes more than 800,000 royalty-free stock video clips (the largest archive on the web), along with millions of other assets, including stock photos, illustrations, music tracks, sound effects, and After Effects motion graphics projects.  Recently, Pond5 opened its doors for contributors of 3D models as well; the 3D collection will launch for buyers later this year. 

Prices on Pond5 are set by the artists themselves, and start at just $1 for images and illustrations, $2 for sound effects and $5 for stock video and music. Pond5 artists come from all over the world, and earn an industry-leading 50% share of all sales.  The  agreement with artists is non-exclusive, and sellers on the site retain full ownership and rights to their content.

For buyers, Pond5 provides instant access to a vast media library, with professional quality content that can be be searched, previewed, and downloaded instantly from the website.  The royalty-free license allows for in-perpetuity use in virtually any type of production.  Pond5 content is regularly used in productions ranging from feature films and television programs to magazines, websites and video games.

“We’re looking to build the most artist-friendly marketplace for stock media on the web,” says Tom Bennett, co-founder and CEO of Pond5, “as well as the go-to creative resource for every media creator in need of raw material”.  The artist-friendly approach has worked, says Bennett: “Thousands of contributors from around the world have combined forces to create the most comprehensive collection of stock media anywhere, available at prices that can’t be beat.”

Pond5’s collection has been growing at an accelerating rate, with thousands of new video clips and other assets being added each week.  The site now offers:

• over 800,000 Royalty-Free Stock Footage Video Clips, most of which are HD
• over 6,4 million Stock Photos and Illustrations, soon over 10 million images
• over 500,000 Vector Illustrations
• over 46,000 Music Tracks
• over 78,000 SFX Sound Effects
• over 1,000 After Effects Projects

Pond5 at the Frankfurt Book Fair - $10,000 Stock Media Giveaway

Pond5 will be exhibiting at the Frankfurt Book Fair (Hall 3.1, Booth A 118), Oct. 12 - 16, 2011, and will be giving away coupons worth $10,000 of free stock media on the site.  Stop by the Pond5 booth early to receive your coupon!

Appointments with staff of Pond5 during the Frankfurt Book Fair can be arranged by emailing fbf@pond5.com.

As part of its broadening international reach, localized versions of the Pond5.com website will be available in German and other major languages in the coming months.

About Pond5
Pond5 is a community-driven marketplace for stock media, featuring the world's largest collection of stock video, as well as millions of photos, illustrations, music tracks, sound effects, motion graphics projects, and 3D models.  All media on Pond5 is instantly downloadable, and licensed under a simple royalty-free license.  Prices are set by contributors, who earn 50% on each sale - among the highest royalties in the industry.

Pond5.com was launched in 2006, and is based in Brooklyn, NY.


For information visit www.pond5.com and follow Pond5 on Facebook and Twitter.