PhotoAid

PhotoAid is a Polish software development company based in Białystok, Poland, founded in 2012. It develops applications that take and process biometric photographs, and manufactures photo booths. In 2022, the company provided services in over 80 countries.

PhotoAid was twice included in on the "FT 1000," the Financial Times' list of fastest-growing companies in Europe, in 2023, and 2024.

Photo-booth network
Brothers Marcin (b. 1984), Rafał (b. 1982), and Tomasz (b. 1986) Młodzki, students of law, computer science, and philosophy, respectively, were running an educational website for learning foreign languages Fiszkoteka. In 2012, they founded FunFotos, to manufacture photo booths and manage a network of the devices. First FunFotos booths that Młodzkis built in the family garage, had proprietary software and were used only for taking souvenir photos.

In 2015, when the Młodzkis had around 70 photo booths in shopping malls, amusement parks, and cinema multiplexes across Poland, a venture capital fund Inovo Venture Partners invested PLN 1.3 million in the company.

In 2016, FunFotos started to build a network of photo booths that enabled taking biometric photos adapted to official identity documents: biometric passports, ID cards, driver's licenses, registration cards, travel visas, as well as the Karta Polaka (Pole's Card), and other residence permits. The company placed its photo booths in local government offices and passport offices. In 2017, it launched the first stationary photo point under the brand FotoExpress.

In 2018, the company had 130 photo booths for taking biometric passport photos. In 2019, the network had over 180 devices across Poland, and a local printing point in Boston. FunFotos had PLN 4 million in revenues and PLN 600,000 in net income. At the time, the work began on a web service adapted to edit photos taken with smartphones for the use in documents. In late 2019, a demo version of the Android app was released.

Pivot to applications
In 2020, FunFotos employed 18 people. In February 2020, the Młodzkis bought back Inovo's shares of the company. In March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they decided to focus on developing a photo software-as-a-service based on a mobile app, while hibernating the photo booth business for the duration of the pandemic. In cooperation with the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics of the University of Warsaw, the company developed a set of algorithms allowing recognition of specific features in photographs of people, followed by the automatic verification and correction. As a result, the company has transformed from an analog to digital business operating online around the world.

In August 2020, FunFotos launched two mobile applications PhotoAid and Passport Photo Online, allowing users to take photos for official documents with a mobile phone camera. The software for creating photos for ID cards was co-financed by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development.

In 2021, the company changed its name to PhotoAid, and it registered its trademark at the European Union Intellectual Property Office. The app was used in 90 countries. In September 2021, the company received PLN 2 million in another round of investment financing. It was then transformed into a joint-stock company. In 2022, it had over 130 people on board.

Software
In a selfie uploaded to the PhotoAid mobile app, the artificial-intelligence algorithms detect a face, crop the image, and turn the background into a solid white, transforming the file into a passport photo – adjusting the size and lighting, in accordance with regulatory requirements in over 13 countries. Immediately after uploading the photo, the AI is able to verify and mark it correct or incorrect. The app converts a photo in three seconds. Images processed and scaled to passport and visa photos go through a double-match test: by the software itself, and by an expert.

In 2022, the app was used by over 11.5 million users, for over 10,000 types of documents in over 150 countries.

Social involvement
In June 2021, under the honorary patronage of the Ministry of Development, Labor and Technology, PhotoAid carried out a campaign “Kreuj obraz zawodowy” (Create Your Professional Image), enabling free use of the professional photo creator for CVs on its platforms. Throughout 2021, PhotoAid carried out social campaigns towards commune offices, seniors, and primary school students, taking ID photos as part of the state digital-document app mObywatel.

In October 2022, in cooperation with provincial governments, the company took 120,000 biometric photos for refugees from Ukraine, as part of the campaign PESEL for Ukraine.

Awards and accolades
PhotoAid was included in the Financial Times ' and Statista's "FT 1000" ranking, among the fastest-growing companies in Europe for 2023, and 2024.