Toronto-based CrowdRiff, an artificial intelligence-powered visual content management and marketing platform for travel brands, has closed a USD 9 million Series A funding round.

The round was led by Leaders Fund, with participation from High Alpha Capital, Gibraltar & Company and BDC Capital.

The company says since 2016, when it raised USD 2 million in seed funding, it has more than tripled its revenue and grown its customer base to more than 500 travel and tourism brands in 24 countries. Clients include WestJet, Destination British Columbia and the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions. 

This new funding will be used to add more customers around the world and develop new products.

“Visuals are the language of modern-day travelers,” says Dan Holowack, CEO and co-founder of CrowdRiff.

“Around the world, it’s visual content that most heavily influences where people choose to travel and how they spend their money while abroad. We’re thrilled to accelerate our innovation and expansion in the travel sector and further enable travel brands and their agencies to effectively use visuals to attract and engage people throughout the travel buyer journey.”

CrowdRiff says it has processed more than 500 million images to date. The platform combines content discovery, digital asset management and content delivery tools to help marketers source and share user-generated, professional and stock photography.