Lobster

The company operated a two‑sided digital marketplace for licensing user‑generated photos and video sourced from social media and cloud platforms. On the supply side, individual creators connected their social accounts, allowing the platform to ingest, index and quality‑rank their content without manual uploads. On the demand side, professional buyers (brands, agencies, publishers) used search and discovery tools to find suitable assets and purchase commercial licences.

Value was created by lowering content sourcing and rights‑management friction for buyers while giving creators a simple route to earn from existing social content. Revenue was generated through subscription tiers for buyers, enterprise/agency licensing agreements, and a commission on each transaction, retaining a minority share of licence revenue while paying out the remainder to creators. AI‑based search and automatic licensing workflows were product features that aimed to improve marketplace liquidity and subscription uptake.

Lobster IT Limited was a UK‑based technology company that operated a user‑generated content (UGC) licensing marketplace. Its platform connected social media and cloud accounts from creators, automatically discovered and indexed photos and videos using AI, and enabled brands, agencies and publishers to search for and license this content for commercial use. The company is now in liquidation following a court winding‑up order in April 2024.

The business served two sides: creators, who connected their accounts and earned a revenue share on licensed content, and professional buyers such as brand marketers, advertising agencies and media companies, who accessed and licensed assets via subscription plans and enterprise deals. Revenue came from subscription fees paid by content buyers and a platform take‑rate on each content licence transaction, with creators typically retaining 75 percent of sales proceeds.