BrightQube Series A- Rumor

I'm hearing BrightQube is close to finalizing their Series A round, which is in the neighborhood of 1-2 million. Not confirmed yet on the amount but this is on the heels of their Angel round, which wasn't closed that long ago. I'll see what other details I can find but looking forward to big things from Lee C. and BrightQube.

BrightQube Video

Anyone have any experience with BrightQube who can share? This video from PDN PhotoPlus 2007's shows an interviews with Lee Corkran of BrightQube. He spoke with Inside Digital Photo TV's host, Scott Sheppard and gives us a brief overview.

He says "we are not looking for the buyer to change the way that they search for images but we're ultimately changing how they find images." Not a bad pitch and one I think will resonate. Corken says this a few minutes in, when highlighting the advance text search and then display. Interesting selling point and I think a good point to use with potential buyers.

If you think that stock photography is going the Getty/Corbis or microstock direction then BQ might have an opening with a novel User Interface...Time will tell.

BrightQube...

As this article on Microstock Diaries illustrates, this new online tool from BrightQube is a new way to search for images. It's basically like having Google Maps' scan and zoom functionality for what amounts to a map of royalty free images from a few image agencies. The interface feels like something you'd expect to find in a Mac OS and is generally bug-free even though the site is in beta. What we're interested in is if videos (or thumbnails of videos) can be displayed in the same efficient and effective way -- we see no reason why not. I can see them opening up the platform to selected professionals and amatuers that they know who can support and provide niche photos to their licensing marketplace which is now all photo agencies from the looks of things. I'll be watching Lee Corkran's company over the next few months.