Toronto’s Ryerson University DMZ program, which offers students and graduate an opportunity to take advantage of the school’s educational system to launch their own startup has done a good job over the last few years to help produce the next generation of technology companies. One incubator in particular, 500px has grown their community of photographers where users can upload their work and create a beautiful portfolio, manage their own blog, vote on photos, and have their work reviewed in return.
Back in the summer they raised a Series A of investment of $525,000 from High Line Venture Capital, Deep Creek Capital and ff Venture Capital, and today the DMZ reports that this 15-person startup is ready to move out and hit the next phase of their business growth. The company was founded by Ryerson alumni Evgeny Tchebotarev and Oleg Gutsol, and is often pitched as a Flickr alternative. Originally the company started as a LiveJournal community for photographers in 2004, but re-launched as a website in 2009 and joined Ryerson*s Digital Media Zone in April 2011. During their time at the DMZ, 500px has seen their
“The 500px team is a fantastic example of how important vision and drive is to the success of a startup. We’ve been able to support them through this tremendous period of growth and we’re proud to count them among our graduates,” said Valerie Fox, Director, Digital Media Zone.
Today, they have amassed over 290,000 registered users, 500px generates 7 million monthly visits and 55 million page views, which is pretty impressive this early in the game.
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