Any event, especially weddings and related functions, are occasions to comb through our wardrobes or go on that much-needed shopping spree to put on the best chic outfit.
Besides the usual celebrations, we also look forward to the wedding photographer, who would click beautiful pictures of us and with the bride and the groom.
However, chances are unlikely that we would get those snaps immediately for our perfect Instagram post. Kerala-based startup Premagic is here to change that.
“With our AI-powered photo delivery service, we solve this problem by assuring guests they will automatically receive their images through a secure link within minutes,” Anup Mohan, Co-founder and CEO of , tells YourStory.
Premagic—a premium B2B SaaS product—targets event planners and photographers, enabling them to streamline their workflow with specialised tools to facilitate photo selection, client management, AI-based album delivery, and more.
The Thrissur, Kerala-based startup was founded in 2018 by Anup Mohan, Anenth Vishnu, and Mevin Chirayath and has 18 employees.
Premagic has nearly 10,000 registered users—mainly photographers and event planners—from India and abroad, including the US, UAE, and New Zealand, and sees over 4,000 weddings and corporate events each month globally.
Co-founder Anup says the startup has grown over 200% compared to last year.
It all started at a wedding, and none other than Anup’s own, back in 2016. No doubt, the hassle of selecting wedding photos from a pool of several thousand is a daunting task, which meant Anup got his wedding album almost a year later.
In 2018, his friends Anenth and Mevin faced a similar issue when it came to compiling their respective wedding albums. This time, they decided to seek a solution.
After speaking to several photographers, they learnt that this problem stems from the lack of a swifter mechanism for photographers to deliver photos to clients.
In fact, platforms like Google Drive, WeTransfer, and hard disks fail to provide a simple interface to select photos, which drove the trio to create a prototype for a simple photo selection tool purely for photographers.
The entrepreneurs decided to test the minimum viable product (MVP) among a few leading photographers in south India, and it was a hit. “They purchased the product, signifying the intense requirement for such a product among the photographers’ community,” Anup says.
Motivated by the overwhelming response and the number of requests for additional features to the product, the co-founders put together a team and launched Premagic officially in the market.
“Breaking into a new market is always challenging. Although we were relatively new to the community, the knowledge that came with having set up multiple startups in the past was hugely advantageous. By identifying the pain points endured by photographers across the board, we could automate various time-consuming processes, helping businesses reduce their image turnaround time drastically,” he adds.
Premagic features
Premagic’s photo selection feature aims to hasten the album creation process, making photo sorting faster and easier by enabling digital selection for clients to review their photos online from anywhere using any device.
The B2B SaaS startup’s photo delivery service Signature Album leverages AI and face recognition technology to efficiently and securely distribute images from events among attendees.
Premagic’s Signature Albums offer various layouts, easy customisation, and in-built face recognition, and help photographers and event planners gain more referrals.
Anup says, “With a 99.6% accuracy, our face recognition system pin-points and delivers each attendee’s own images to them via a secure link.”
Besides, its CRM suite, which includes project management, invoicing, lead generation, etc., tools, helps photographers and event planners streamline their workflow, stay on top of their to-do lists, save time, boost revenue, and multiply their bookings. It also offers easily customisable digital proposal features to create multimedia business proposals.
“We believe that digital is the future,” Anup says, adding that Premagic’s Digital Invites feature allows photographers and event planners to gain brand exposure and generate fresh leads.
According to Amar Ramesh, Founder of StudioA Weddings, Premagic’s software addresses the simplest of issues faced by photographers efficiently. “Premagic has gotten the DNA of a photographer right. It’s been designed in a very easy-to-use yet powerful manner,” he adds.
Premagic offers product packages that start from Rs 3,240 per month and can go up to Rs 14,650 per month. “Clients can customise the packages to better suit their needs depending on the company’s requirements,” Anup says.
“As an event management company, we are usually juggling multiple things at once. Thanks to Premagic for taking over the huge role of seamlessly distributing the event photos among all the attendees. Something that would have taken our team hours can now be accomplished in minutes with minimal effort,” says Alexy Kuriakose from Wings Events.
The startup’s monthly recurring revenue (MRR) is around $23,000 and expects to reach $1 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) by early 2024.
In December 2021, Premagic raised Rs 2 crore in pre-seed funding round from 300 Ventures and angel investors, including Sujayath Ali (Co-founder, ShopUp and Voonik), Sony Joy (VP, Truecaller) Mohammed Hisamuddin (Co-founder and CEO, Entri.app), and Sharique Samsudheen (Founder and CEO, Marketfeed).
On his investment into Premagic, Sujayath Ali said, “While adding curation, convenience, and delight to the wedding photography experience are the core offerings, Premagic is also building tools to enhance digital engagement between the hosts and their guests before, during, and after an event.”
“Premagic is solving an age-old problem in a sector yet to see true innovations,” Sony Joy had added.
The way ahead
According to Verified Market Research, the global digital photography market size was valued at $44.7 billion in 2021, projected to reach $58.41 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 3.8%.
Premagic competes with Shootproof, Pixieset, Studio Ninja, and Pictime in this segment.
“At present, our focus is on expanding our customer base in more Indian cities and outside, predominantly in the US and Europe by the end of next year, to reach over 10 lakh events per year. We are also deploying funds to unlock more host and guest-centric features, thereby increasing the per-event revenue share,” Anup shares.
“Once the growth phase surpasses, we will turn our focus on profitability,” Anup says.
