GuruShots Raises $5M for Its Crowd-Based Photo Game

The Tel Aviv, Israel-based startup GuruShots has raised $5 million in Series A funding for its crowd-based real-world photography game, which gamifies photography for enthusiasts around the world.

The funding, led by Altair Capital, Buran Venture Capital, and Ervington Investments Limited, brings GuruShots’ total funding to $6.5 million and will help the company accelerate its growth.

GuruShots is designed to turn photography into a fun, interactive, global online competition through the Web and mobile devices.

Users can submit photos to daily themed challenges (e.g. “Black and White” and “Beards”) and have their work rated through crowdsourced voting. The highest ranked photos are surfaced, and users receive real-time feedback.

Winners of these mini competitions can win prizes, from in-game power-ups to photography gear to gift cards to spots in international photo exhibitions.

GuruShots hots five photo exhibitions each month around the world.

Since launching back in 2015, GuruShots how boasts over 4 billion votes per month across over 500 challenges, and over $600,000 in prizes has been awarded. About 5,000 members are recognized for their achievements each month, and tens of thousands of photos have already been exhibited.

“GuruShots, one of the world’s largest image ranking platforms using UGC [user-generated content], is easy and fun enough for anyone to start, and challenging enough for everyone to get hooked,” GuruShots says. “As users level up in the game, they find themselves improving their photo-taking skills, too.”

If you’d like to give GuruShots a shot, you can participate through the website and by downloading the app through the iTunes App Store and Google Play.