Who founded Pretty Instant?

Pretty Instant was founded by Ben Maitland-Lewis, Chris Cave, Douglas E. Rogers, Chase McAleese in 2015.

Who are Pretty Instant's investors?

Pretty Instant's investors include Y Combinator, Cannon Capital, Digital Platform International (Hk), PreAngel Fund.

Where is Pretty Instant headquartered?

Pretty Instant is headquartered in Boston, US.

Pretty Instant

AcquiredYC W15

Boston, US · Founded 2015 · 3 employees · 4 known investors

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A marketplace connecting brands and non-profits with vetted photographers and videographers for events, portraits, real estate, and product shoots, offering end-to-end services including logistics, editing, and delivery. The company also pioneered a mobile photo booth that captured branded images and collected guest contact information for CRM systems.

Consumer B2BUnited States of AmericaAmerica / CanadaFully Remote

Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (W15)

Pretty Instant was founded in 2015 by Ben Maitland-Lewis, Chris Cave, Douglas E. Rogers, and Chase McAleese.

Ben Maitland-Lewis CEOBen Maitland-Lewis worked as a professional musician and tour manager, served as marketing director at SonyBMG, and founded a digital asset management platform acquired by UMG and a roaming photo booth platform acquired by Snappr. He was part of Y Combinator's Winter 2015 cohort and has worked in startup banking.

Chris Cave Co-Founder / Director Of Operations2013–2021Chris Cave previously held operations and product roles at SfinLogic, an AI-powered market intelligence platform.

Douglas E. Rogers Co-Founder / CTO2015–2019Douglas E. Rogers was technical co-founder of Pretty Instant (YC W15), which was acquired by Snappr in 2021. He currently provides technical and strategic advisory work for enterprise clients.

Chase McAleese Co-Founder2014–2016Chase McAleese co-founded Pretty Instant, a marketplace for photographers and videographers offering event and commercial shoots with editing and delivery services, which was acquired by Snappr. He previously co-founded Jebbit, which was acquired by Vista Equity Partners.

Investors · 4

Y Combinatorlisted by Y CombinatorSan Francisco · $500K

How we know: the Y Combinator directory · open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Not right? Tell us

Cannon Capitalreported

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Digital Platform International (Hk)reportedHong Kong

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

PreAngel FundreportedBeijing · $20K – $1M

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

The YC application· Winter 2015 batch

▶ Application video — watch on YC ↗▶ Demo Day video — watch on YC ↗

Founder mafia

2 people who came through Pretty Instant went on to found or lead other companies.

Douglas E. RogersFounderFounded DubPrime Chase McAleeseFounderFounded Jebbit

Related companies · 5

PriimePriime develops photo editing software for photographers across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Adobe Lightroom, featuring hand-crafted styles designed by working photographers. The tool emphasizes simplicity, curation, and RAW workflow capabilities over feature complexity.

SnapprSnappr produces and delivers photography, videography, and AI-generated images for clients with high-volume or individual project needs.

DabbleDabble produces computer-generated product images for e-commerce retailers, replacing traditional photography with automated CGI and computer vision technology.

ChariotChariot builds financial infrastructure for donor-advised fund (DAF) giving, connecting donors, nonprofits, and platforms to enable faster, verified charitable donations and payouts. The company serves nonprofits, individual donors, and DAF providers seeking to streamline and expand charitable giving.

InariInari analyzes customer feedback, support tickets, and CRM data to identify product opportunities and customer insights, automatically surfacing relevant information and linking findings to backlog items.

Companies working in the same space as Pretty Instant.

Legal entities · 1

corporate structure

Pretty Instant Inc

Frequently asked questions

What does Pretty Instant do?: A marketplace connecting brands and non-profits with vetted photographers and videographers for events, portraits, real estate, and product shoots, offering end-to-end services including logistics, editing, and delivery. The company also pioneered a mobile photo booth that captured branded images and collected guest contact information for CRM systems.
Who founded Pretty Instant?: Pretty Instant was founded by Ben Maitland-Lewis, Chris Cave, Douglas E. Rogers, Chase McAleese in 2015.
Who are Pretty Instant's investors?: Pretty Instant's investors include Y Combinator, Cannon Capital, Digital Platform International (Hk), PreAngel Fund.
Where is Pretty Instant headquartered?: Pretty Instant is headquartered in Boston, US.