Imagekind™ Adds Erik Blachford as an Advisor and Sven Achter to the Board of Directors

Seattle, Wash., Imagekind.com, the world's fastest growing online community for creating, selling and buying artwork, today announced it has closed $2.6 million in its series A round of financing. The company will use these funds to aggressively market the site and increase operations and staffing.

Holtzbrinck Ventures, the venture arm of one of Germany’s largest publishing companies and one of Europe’s leading Internet investors, led the round.

• Crosslink Capital, investors in TiVo, Omniture and Pandora
• Erik Blachford, former CEO of Expedia (EXPE)
• Tom Hughes, the co-founder of Photodisc (Getty Images)
• Samwer-Brothers, the founders of eBay Germany, and Jamba
• Nick Hanuaer, Founder and Chairman of aQuantive, and Second Ave Partners

Imagekind also announced today that Expedia’s former CEO, Erik Blachford has joined Imagekind as an advisor, and Sven Achter of Holtzbrink Ventures joined Imagekind’s Board of Directors. According to Sven, "Imagekind’s fast growth, extreme member loyalty, and strong management team, made Imagekind a compelling investment opportunity for us. By developing a unique online marketplace that allows buyers and sellers to discover and monetize original art, Imagekind leveraged new print on demand technologies to develop a high-growth opportunity with international implications, and we were intrigued by the opportunity to work with such an innovative and fast-growing company."

"We never actively solicited investors but there was an unexpected level of interest in Imagekind", stated Kelly Smith, CEO and one of Imagekind’s founders. "When we finally decided to raise external capital, we wanted to partner with funds and individuals that share our interest in international expansion and who bring a global perspective. Our roster of world class investors have had prior successes in related industries including imaging & printing, photobooks, manufacturing and world-class consumer e-commerce properties. This financing allows us to continue focusing on building the most unique online e-commerce platform that we expect to become a major player in this emerging $20 billion art marketplace."

Holtzbrinck has been noticeably active in the European investment scene as of late, having acquired the biggest German social networking platform for college students called StudiVZ. Holtzbrinck has an enviable track record with other investments placed on online networks, e-commerce, and entertainment sites. Imagekind is their first official US investment to date.

With newly acquired venture capital, Imagekind plans an aggressive strategy of marketing and operational improvements. Imagekind will also continue to acquire work from talented artists in order to supply a growing demand for original art, as well as providing the highest level of member support for the loyal artists who have been with us since the beginning. Kevin Saliba, President of Imagekind states, "Several thousand artists have posted galleries of their fine art work. Customers are buying art from artists all over the world, from New York to South Africa to Iceland." Saliba adds, "We will continue to deliver the best service to our artists and photographers and the best selection of high quality original artwork to our customers."

About Imagekind.com
Imagekind.com is the fastest growing art e-commerce community on the internet. Imagekind.com brings almost unlimited options to the world of framed art and fine art prints with a wide variety of artwork, custom framing options and printing material. Using the powerful Imagekind platform, original artists can now easily sell art prints and framed art to anyone, anywhere in the world while Imagekind handles production, shipping and commissions. Imagekind's goal is to develop a new online art experience that provides both consumers and professional artists a new outlet for sharing, creating and buying actual wall art produced from digital files. Imagekind is often described as a cross between a virtual art gallery, a photo-sharing service and a print-on-demand service.