Leading subscription creative services platform Design Pickle is announcing a growth investment to allow the global company to double down on development of transformative technology, accelerate expansion of creative offerings and build greater brand awareness within the advertising, marketing, and creative industries. With a recent $25 million minority growth investment from Colorado River Partners (CO River), Design Pickle will continue to redefine the creative ecosystem through its industry disrupting all-in-one platform, supported by a built-in global design workforce.
“At Design Pickle, we have pioneered the approach to solving the creative conundrum many agencies and businesses find themselves in on a daily basis.”— Russ Perry, Design Pickle CEO
Founded in 2015 by Russ Perry, Design Pickle has consistently generated material annual growth, with over 1.25 million creative requests completed through its platform. Thousands of subscribers receive creative services provided by a growing base of more than 500 international designers. Listed on Inc.’s 5000 Fastest Growing Companies for the last three consecutive years, Design Pickle’s success has been driven by guiding principles that have reimagined the intersection of creative services, creative talent, and technology.
“At Design Pickle, we have pioneered the approach to solving the creative conundrum many agencies and businesses find themselves in on a daily basis. We are a subscription model, and we’ve completely eliminated the friction and failures associated with freelance marketplaces,” said Perry. “Since day one, we’ve been clear that our model is the new model for our industry. Our end-to-end platform connects dots across the entire creative experience and we’re now at the epicenter of how agencies are dynamically shifting their resources because they’re able to quickly scale creative talent and content delivery with Design Pickle.”
From CO River, an Austin-based growth equity investor dedicated to supporting recurring revenue software and tech-enabled services businesses, Managing Partner William Kuntz will join Design Pickle’s Board of Directors. “The impressive scale that Design Pickle has achieved is just the beginning, and CO River is excited to support the company in achieving its aggressive growth goals,” said Kuntz.
In accepting outside investment for the first time, Perry sees the deployment of this growth capital as an opportunity to accelerate improvements in its platform and service offerings and to clearly separate Design Pickle’s platform from limited offerings by freelance “marketplace” style competitors. “CO River is an exciting strategic partner with principals who have a proven track record of identifying emerging market leaders that have effectively redefined their respective sectors,” said Perry. “This $25 million investment will accelerate our growth trajectory, rev up our capabilities and advance our next-generation approach to business while further enhancing our brand position globally.”
Brian Sharples, former Co-founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of HomeAway, will join Kuntz on the Design Pickle Board of Directors, adding to his impressive roster of executive tech leadership positions. “[Sharples] has a proven and demonstrated experience in elevating and growing category-leading businesses like HomeAway, Avalara and GoDaddy. We are thrilled to welcome his thoughtful leadership and dynamic voice to our Board of Directors as we enter this exciting new chapter at Design Pickle,” added Perry.
Sharples echoed Perry’s enthusiasm to join the Design Pickle Board of Directors and partner with CO River. “I couldn’t be more excited and honored to be working with Russ and the Design Pickle team as they scale their business over the next several years. They’ve built a unique, innovative, and durable high-growth business that delivers incredible value and efficiency for their customers. I’m also proud to be partnering with CO River on this investment, as we both see tremendous potential to further enhance Design Pickle’s industry-leading subscription offerings, while expanding the company’s customer footprint globally,” said Sharples.
Design Pickle is a subscription creative services company powered by custom technology and a global subscription workforce across the globe. Design Pickle’s all-in-one creative services include graphic design, custom illustrations, presentation design, and motion graphics.
Founded in Scottsdale, Arizona Design Pickle was created to deliver reliable, affordable, and scalable creative content to any business. Since its 2015 inception, Design Pickle has completed over 1.25 million creative requests.
Based in Austin, TX, Colorado River Partners invests in growing recurring revenue software and tech-enabled services businesses serving high growth markets by providing flexible capital and outstanding operational support.
