Dronestagram acquired by French drone stock image provider

Drone photography platform from the very beginning Dronestagram has been acquired by the French drone stock image provider HOsiHO. Dronestagram founder Eric Dupin reports this in an email to the users of the platform. The takeover will give new life to the already moribund photo platform, which was founded in 2013.

Online Community for Drone Photography

Dronestagram was the world's first online community focused on drone photography and video. The platform was founded by Frenchman Eric Dupin. Drone pilots from all over the world were able to upload photos (and later videos) and place them on a map.

Within a few years, the platform grew into a community with tens of thousands of members. Every year Dronestagram hosted an International Drone Photography Contest, which was even sponsored by National Geographic in 2016. The book Dronescapes was also published, containing the most beautiful Drone Photos from the community.

However, with the general public's waning interest in drones and the growth of other platforms such as DJI's SkyPixel and the countless Facebook groups devoted to drone photography, Dronestagram's ambitions came to an end. Also, the increasingly strict regulations for drones led to an increasing amount of Legal problems, especially in terms of liability for illegally captured images.

Takeover of dronestagram

In mid-December 2021, founder Eric Dupin decided to pull the plug on Dronestagram, unless a party was interested in an acquisition. It turned out that there was indeed interest and various parties reported to Dupin. After a number of discussions, HOsiHO emerged as the most suitable acquisition candidate. The acquisition was completed last week.

HOsiHO was founded in 2014 and focuses on the sale of aerial stock images. The company has a network of drone pilots who make footage. According to Dupin, the acquisition of Dronestagram will bring new life to the platform. It is not yet clear what exactly HOsiHO's plans are: the company may exploit the rights or activate the network of drone pilots.

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This article first appeared on Dronewatch and is written by Wiebe de Jager who is also a DroneXL contributor.

Photo courtesy of Pascal Boimez and Arsovicy.

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