Ontela is getting a big name behind it. The company announced yesterday that it will merge operations with Photobucket.com, the Web site owned by News Corporation. The combined company will go with the Photobucket name.
Ontela’s software is used on more than 30 wireless carriers, including Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA. According to a press release, Photobucket will leverage Ontela’s wireless carrier relationships to provide distribution and consumer access to more than 140 million wireless subscribers, while Ontela will drive uptake of its mobile apps by capitalizing on Photobucket’s brand and active user base. Photobucket counts 22 million monthly unique users in its U.S. audience.
News Corporation, which acquired Photobucket in 2007, will hold a significant equity stake in the combined company and will be represented on the company’s board. The Photobucket management team will continue to operate the business and play strong leadership roles.
Tom Munro, Ontela’s CFO, will become president. Jon Miller, chairman and CEO of Digital Media for News Corporation, will serve as a director. Ontela CEO Dan Shapiro will be chief technology officer. No changes were planned in terms of where employees will be based, according to a spokesman. Photobucket has offices in Denver and San Francisco, and Ontela is based in Seattle.
Ontela provides a service that allows people to get pictures off their camera phones, automatically uploading to a desktop, e-mail or a photo sharing site. Its investors include Steamboat Ventures, Covera Ventures, Voyager Capital and Oak Investment Partners.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but the companies say Ontela’s investors will make an additional capital commitment as part of the merger and will hold significant equity positions in the combined company.
Photobucket is one of the largest standalone photo sites. More than 11 million photos, graphics and videos are uploaded to Photobucket every day and the site serves more than 100 billion images each month.
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In an interview, Shapiro said Ontela began working more closely with Photobucket over a year ago. Customers were saying they really wanted photos sent to Photobucket, and carriers said it was a powerful brand they wanted to offer to customers.
Part of the appeal is every piece of media uploaded to Photobucket and made public by the user is reviewed by a human, so carriers – and advertisers – that are concerned about content standards can get peace of mind.
Most cell phones on the market today include cameras; if they don’t, it’s usually for security reasons. Going forward, the Photobucket Seattle team will be looking at how every camera connected to the network should behave and “really just understanding how we can be the best possible social media site that’s out there,” Shapiro says. Photobucket has been thoughtful about what geolocation means for photo sharing, he adds, so that consumers are both empowered and protected at the same time.
In the past, Ontela has demonstrated how it can take a picture using its software and sending it to a digital picture frame. That’s the kind of thing the company will be looking at going forward.
Ontela also has offered the ability to send photos to various photo-sharing sites, including Photobucket rival Flickr. Does the merger change things? Shapiro says all of Ontela’s existing products will continue to operate the way they have, and Photobucket has demonstrated it’s not a place for trapping photos. “It’s always been about sharing photos,” he says. The philosophy is aligned around the notion that “if you love your photo, set it free.”