Inmagine Expands its Global Creative Ecosystem
Stock footage and filmmaker education company Story & Heart and online vector graphics editor Vectr join digital stock media powerhouse
PORTLAND, Ore., HONG KONG and KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Nov. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Inmagine Group, a global leader in the creative industry, continues to strengthen its global creative ecosystem with two recent acquisitions. Inmagine is joining forces with Story & Heart, a filmmaker academy and video licensing platform supported by a worldwide community of filmmakers, while Inmagine's 123RF, one of the world's largest royalty-free digital stock agency, has acquired Vectr, a web-based vector graphics editor.
"These latest acquisitions help Inmagine Group further our mission of empowering creative professionals around the world with seamless access to high-quality content, skills and tools," said Stephanie Sitt, Co-founder of Inmagine Group and 123RF. "We are building a holistic creative ecosystem that makes great design accessible to all. Through the filmmaker community, Story & Heart brings an extensive portfolio of exclusive film and video footage to the Inmagine content library, which is already among the largest in the world, while Vectr offers our millions of users intuitive design software that is simple, powerful and free."
As part of the Inmagine Group, both Story & Heart and Vectr will be supported to grow and reach a wider global audience. They join a stable of market-leading creative companies that includes major digital platforms such as StockUnlimited, Designs.net and CraftBundles, as well as design marketplace TheHungryJPEG and Pixlr, one of the most widely used cloud and mobile photo editors, both of which Inmagine acquired earlier this year.
Story & Heart Community to Grow with Inmagine
"Story & Heart has created something unique: a bank of authentic cinematic-quality footage produced by a global community of filmmakers, which the company supports both financially and through hands-on education," Sitt continued. "Inmagine will support Story & Heart to nurture this community, engage new talent and grow its story-driven digital stock footage library."
Following the acquisition, Story & Heart filmmakers will be able to reach a wider global audience as part of the Inmagine Group, which draws over 40 million visitors a month to its various online properties.
Based in Portland, Oregon, USA, Story & Heart will remain independently operated and driven by the same dynamic, management team in place. It currently features the work of hundreds of active filmmakers. Its customers include creative, digital and advertising agencies, film studios, television broadcast networks, independent filmmakers, and more.
"We want to change people's perception of stock footage," said David Singer, CEO and Co-founder at Story & Heart. "Part of that is working closely with our global community of world-class filmmakers. So everything on the platform is compelling, super high quality and cinematic." Singer adds, "Plus we're hyper-focused on delivering exactly what our clients need. We'll even arrange on-demand shoots with our filmmakers to capture custom footage that perfectly matches the client's needs."
In addition to its stock footage business, Story & Heart also runs the Academy of Storytellers, a constantly growing library of in-depth tutorials and courses that help filmmakers grow their skills and excel in their careers. "Our educational platform is all about giving filmmakers the tools they need in order to succeed," said Justin DeMers, Co-founder at Story & Heart. "Between our courses and workshops taught by working professionals, and our supportive community, we've got everything both aspiring and intermediate filmmakers need to make the next big leap in their careers."
Through the Academy of Storytellers, Story & Heart is committed to helping filmmakers expand their networks and grow as creatives and business people. Story & Heart's financial model enables it to offer industry-leading splits with its licensed filmmakers. It partners with industry leaders including Vimeo, B&H Photo and Kessler Crane. Among the companies that have licensed its stock footage are Samsung, Google, Delta and CBS.
Vectr Editing Tool Makes Great Design More Accessible
Vectr is a free graphics editor for web and desktop. Simple yet powerful, it helps designers more easily create and share clean vector graphics. Vectr launched its cross-platform software 13 months ago, after two years in development, and has already attracted more than 400,000 users.
"Our acquisition of Vectr brings designers another great way to unleash their creativity, giving them the tools and inspiration to tell their stories with scalable vector graphics," Sitt said. 123RF will develop and market Vectr as a free platform for graphic illustrators who want to rapidly create stunning vector-based graphics, without the expense and steep learning curve of the premium editing tools.
Unlike raster images, which are created with a pixel-based program, camera or scanner, vector graphics are infinitely scalable and thus ideal for designing webpages, apps, logos and fonts. Along with the acquisition, 123RF has also invested in another interactive design company set up by some members of the Vectr team.
"Like 123RF, we know that good design connects people and we believe everyone should have the tools to express their creativity through art and design," said Nick Budden, CEO of Vectr.
"We are delighted to team up with the world's largest royalty-free digital stock agency and put our amazing editing tool into the hands of more designers around the world."
ABOUT STORY & HEART
Story & Heart brings together world-class filmmakers and brands. From its library of professionally-shot stock footage to its educational academy, the Portland, Or company enables filmmakers to forge profitable creative careers while giving brands access to a range of unique and exclusive footage to use in marketing campaigns
ABOUT VECTR
Vectr is a free collaborative vector graphics editor for both web and desktop that lets users create vector graphic designs easily and intuitively. It doesn't matter whether you're a seasoned pro, or just getting your feet wet in design for the first time -- you'll be up and running in no time flat.
ABOUT INMAGINE GROUP
Inmagine Group has over 350 staff in 40 offices around the globe. It was founded in 2000 as Inmagine.com and, despite being fully bootstrapped, has quickly expanded its reach with sites like 123RF.com, Pixlr.com, TheHungryJPEG.com, Craftbundles.com, StockUnlimited.com, and Designs.net. Inmagine Group has one of the world's largest content libraries across the creative ecosystem and draws over 40 million visitors a month to its various online properties.
ABOUT 123RF
Founded in 2005, 123RF has grown to be one of the world's largest royalty-free digital stock agencies. As part of the Inmagine Group, 123RF has helped a wide clientele of individuals and businesses from more than 40 locations worldwide tell their stories using creative imagery, sounds and motion contributed by talents from around the world. 123RF aims to be a creative solutions enabler through constant innovation, new products and services.
SOURCE Inmagine Group
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