Photoroom Wants to Create 'Useful AI' for Small Businesses

Were you one of the 13 million people who used the Barbie Selfie Generator last summer to add yourself to a digital movie poster?

If so, you're already familiar with AI photo editing platform Photoroom. The Paris-based startup made the Barbie selfies possible.

But it's best known for a tool for small businesses that removes backgrounds from images. So, for example, if you're selling pingpong tables on a third-party marketplace like Amazon or eBay, you can isolate the table from the background in a preexisting image to make the picture your own.

AI-powered image generation is a hot ticket for tech companies big and small. And while many, like OpenAI and Midjourney, are focused on creating one-of-a-kind images and videos, Photoroom is taking a slightly different approach. 

So far, the startup has mostly been focused on commerce photography for small businesses, though CEO Matthieu Rouif said he'd also like to work more with big outfits like entertainment company Warner Bros., which distributed the Barbie movie.

Rouif got frustrated by manually removing backgrounds in Photoshop when he was working as a product manager at camera company GoPro, says the Photoroom website. He studied machine learning, partnered with machine learning and computer vision engineer Eliot Andres, and together they founded Photoroom in 2019.

"We try to do useful AI," Rouif said. "We don't start from the lab and push the technology. We start from user need and then develop algorithms based on what they need."

Rouif did some of his research at a Paris McDonald's, where he's now banned, he says, after he offered to pay for meals in exchange for asking customers waiting in line to download the app and answer a few questions.

However, talking to users led to the realization that many small businesses were using mobile devices to sell goods on sites like eBay and Poshmark.

"On these platforms, you need the right background, and we had amazing technology on segmentation, which is removing the background," Rouif said. "And this is where Photoroom started to take off."

The background removal tool allows small-business owners to edit product images themselves without having to hire photographers. This became more of a necessity in 2020 when COVID-related shutdowns boosted e-commerce, which meant more demand for listings, and that businesses couldn't work in person with photographers anyway.

Photoroom has since expanded to offer additional tools, like a batch photo editor, which lets you edit multiple photos at once, along with a retouching tool and AI offerings for additional editing needs like resizing or expanding.

By editing product images to add shadows, for instance, small businesses can make their listings look more professional and stand out from competitors, Rouif said.

"Our goal is to be useful to small businesses," he added. "We believe AI is leveling the playing field and it's actually very impactful for small businesses."

To date, Photoroom has built more than 15 AI models and trained them with a mix of licensed data from photographers and stock photography providers. It's also relied on feedback from its photo editor community. Photoroom has 30 million active users.

From here, Photoroom plans to make it easier for small-business users to collaborate, and to work with bigger companies as well.

The startup is backed by about $60 million, including a Series B round in early 2024.

This is one of a series of short profiles of AI startups, to help you get a handle on the landscape of artificial intelligence and the activity going on. For more on AI, see our AI Atlas hub, which includes product reviews, news, tips and explainers.