PastBook launches AI-driven photobook app
Amsterdam-based photo products company PastBook launched an AI-powered iOS app. The company claims its “industry-first” artificial technology allows consumers to create a photo book in less than 60 seconds by simply selecting a time range or location.
Once the AI picks the best photos for the final book, it smart-groups them into curated page layouts and presents a preview that is easy to view and edit, syncing with a network of printers internationally for the final published product.
PastBook has grown in North America, Australia, Europe, and the United Kingdom. PastBook posted revenues of USD 14.3 million in 2019, with a projected tripling of this figure estimated for 2020. Throughout its expansion, the company has kept technological innovation at the core of its proposition. In 2020, Stefano Cutello – founder and previous CEO – made several changes to the leadership team following the company’s rapid growth: Wouter Staaten, former CEO of Albelli and vice president of Cimpress, was appointed as CEO. Cutello was then able to take up his new role as Chief Product and Innovation Officer. As CPO, Cutello led the company’s product strategy and R&D, a directed focus on technological advancement that has enabled the latest launch of the industry-first, patent-pending application.
“The launch of this app will be a pivotal point in the development of PastBook as the global, fabless platform for one-click photo products,” said Staatsen, CEO. “In the past year we have achieved tremendous growth in revenues internationally and the addition of this unique piece of IP will provide us with incredible potential for scale in the next few years. I’m proud to be a part of what is a brilliant and talented team and I’m hugely excited to lead PastBook trailblazing into new frontiers, transforming the online photo industry”.
“Today is a landmark day for both the company and for myself after developing the app for over a year and a half. Since Wouter took the role of CEO in 2020, I have had more time to focus on the product and innovation to take PastBook to the next level both in terms of our offering and international scalability and growth,” said Cutello. “In that sense, it is hugely gratifying that the past 18 months have had the desired effect in allowing the product to advance significantly while maintaining the growth that has led us to be recognized by the Financial Times, Deloitte, and Forbes. This app, and the technology behind it, have been in my mind since the very early days of PastBook, and I’m so proud to finally see it coming to life. I’m sure that it will provide people with a more effortless way to relive and enjoy their memories.”
“With more and more consumers using their phones as their primary camera, camera rolls turn into enormous piles of images,” said Daniel Scheijen, CMO, Our app will find the needles in the haystack and turn these memories into a curated photo book in seconds. Users that have tested our app have described it as magical. I guess that sums it up.”
PastBook has appeared in both the FT1000: Europe’s Fastest-Growing Companies and Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500. The company also won the Deloitte Fast50 for the Media & Entertainment category, followed by Staatsen and Cutello discussing the rise of the “experience economy” with Forbes in early June.