GuruShots
GuruShots is a Tel Aviv-based consumer platform founded in 2014 that gamifies photography through competitive photo challenges, serving photography enthusiasts and casual gamers seeking skill-based contests and community engagement.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersTel Aviv, Israel
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
What GuruShots does
GuruShots is a Tel Aviv-based, privately held consumer platform founded in 2014 that gamifies photography through competitive photo challenges and contests. The product targets photography enthusiasts and casual gamers who participate in skill-based competitions where users submit images, receive votes, and compete for recognition. The platform operates as a single unified product under the GuruShots brand, with its core technology centered on a web-based photography game experience rather than disclosed proprietary AI, computer vision, or machine learning capabilities.
The company's go-to-market motion is horizontal, addressing a broad consumer segment of photography hobbyists rather than enterprise or vertical-specific buyers. Revenue mechanics are not publicly disclosed; plausible consumer-app monetization vectors include premium subscriptions, in-app purchases, sponsored brand challenges, or advertising — but none are confirmed in the available source data. The platform has accumulated approximately $8.9M in disclosed venture funding across three rounds between 2015 and 2019, with investors including AltaIR Capital, Ervington Investments, and Flashpoint, suggesting prior capital deployment toward user acquisition and product development.
The company is led by co-founders Gilon Miller (CEO) and Eran Hazout (CTO) and operates with a small team in the 11-50 employee range. No customer logos, enterprise partnerships, patent portfolio, regulatory milestones, or recent leadership additions are disclosed, and the most recent public funding event dates to March 2019, leaving current operating signals largely unobservable.
GuruShots firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- GuruShots
- Website
- https://GuruShots.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- GuruShots is a Tel Aviv-based consumer platform founded in 2014 that gamifies photography through competitive photo challenges, serving photography enthusiasts and casual gamers seeking skill-based contests and community engagement.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
GuruShots industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Photography Game Platform
- NAICS
- Photographic Services (54192)
- SIC
- Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Photography & Videography Workshops (THAJAKAD)
Keywords
Where GuruShots is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Tel Aviv
- HQ country
- Israel
- HQ region
- Middle East
Markets served
GuruShots business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations
GuruShots product offering
Product offeringCore offering
GuruShots operates a photography game platform that gamifies photo taking by engaging users in photo challenges and contests. Users submit photographs, compete for votes, and progress through skill-based competitive challenges designed to improve their photography abilities. The platform is delivered as a unified game experience branded as "The World's Greatest Photography Game."
Product overview
GuruShots offers a single unified product — a photography game platform where users participate in photo challenges, compete for votes, and develop their photography skills through gamification. The platform centers on the GuruShots brand and its core game experience.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- GuruShots Photography Game Platform A gamified photography game platform that enables photography enthusiasts to participate in photo challenges and contests, submit photographs, compete for votes, and develop their photography skills through structured competitive gameplay. Designed for individual photography hobbyists and casual gamers seeking entertainment and skill improvement.
Companies that use GuruShots
Customer profileSegments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
GuruShots technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
GuruShots partnerships and signals
Strategic signalRecent moves4 records
Expansion highlights2 records
GuruShots competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Viewbug: Viewbug is a photography community that runs photo contests and challenges with voting and prizes — directly overlapping with GuruShots' gamified photo-competition model and serving the same enthusiast photographer segment.
- 500px: 500px is a photography community and marketplace for serious and enthusiast photographers with photo challenges and portfolios — directly comparable to GuruShots in audience and competitive community mechanics.
- EyeEm: EyeEm is a photography community that runs themed photo 'Missions' with curated challenges — closely analogous to GuruShots' challenge-based format for the same photography enthusiast audience.
Broad incumbents
- VSCO: VSCO is a broader photography platform combining editing tools, presets, and a creator community — overlapping with GuruShots on the photography enthusiast audience but with a much wider product surface and incumbency.
- SmugMug: SmugMug is a photo-sharing, storage, and printing platform serving enthusiast and pro photographers — comparable in target audience and recurring-engagement model, though oriented around portfolio and print commerce.
- Flickr: Flickr is a long-standing photo-sharing community with groups, challenges, and social interaction — comparable to GuruShots in its photography-community focus, though broader in scope and without gamified progression mechanics.
- Behance: Behance is a creative portfolio and community platform owned by Adobe — comparable as a community for visual creators with feedback/recognition mechanics, though broader in scope (design, illustration, motion) than GuruShots' photo-only focus.
- Photobucket: Photobucket is a long-standing photo hosting and sharing platform — comparable as a consumer photo community destination, though its focus is hosting/storage rather than gamified challenges.
Emerging players
- PicCollage: PicCollage is a photo-editing and collage app with social/community features — partially overlapping with GuruShots in the casual photography-app category, though focused on collage/editing rather than competitive challenges.
- Pic-Time: Pic-Time is a photography platform serving professional photographers with galleries, sales, and client-facing tools — adjacent to GuruShots in the photography-tooling space but oriented to the pro/semi-pro market rather than enthusiast gamers.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
GuruShots social profiles
Digital presenceGuruShots financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
GuruShots leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
GuruShots funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds3 records
Investors4 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
GuruShots M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about GuruShots
What does GuruShots do?
GuruShots operates a photography game platform that gamifies photo taking by engaging users in photo challenges and contests. Users submit photographs, compete for votes, and progress through skill-based competitive challenges designed to improve their photography abilities. The platform is delivered as a unified game experience branded as "The World's Greatest Photography Game."
When was GuruShots founded?
GuruShots was founded in 2014. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is GuruShots based?
GuruShots is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, in the Middle East region.
Who are GuruShots's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Viewbug, 500px and EyeEm. Broad incumbents are VSCO, SmugMug, Flickr, Behance and Photobucket. Emerging players are PicCollage and Pic-Time.
Does GuruShots have an API?
No public API is recorded for GuruShots.
What industry is GuruShots in?
GuruShots's product category is Photography Game Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAJAKAD, Photography & Videography Workshops. Its NAICS code is 54192 and its SIC code is 7330.