GoPro is one of the most successful action camera manufacturers of the USA, and Nick Woodman founded the company in 2002. The company is known for its action cameras, and it also develops its mobile apps and the video-editing software. The company was earlier founded as Woodman Labs, Inc, and is focussed on the sports genre while developing its first line of sports camera.
Inception
Nick Woodman founded GoPro in the year2002, and he was motivated by his surfing trip to Australia in 2002. On that trip, he was hoping to capture high-quality action photos. Still, he could not do so because the amateur photographers were not able to get close enough and could not but the appropriate quality tools at a reasonable price.
So he started his own camera company. The camera range was then branded ‘Hero,’ and they aimed to be able to capture the close-up camera shots so that subject can be made look a hero.
Initially, he would sell bead and shell belts under US&20 from his van, and later, he sold fashionable camera straps. He then also got $230,000 as an investment from his parents.
Evolution
Nick worked on the company’s first camera for over two years. The company first sold its camera system in the year 2004, and it was a 35 mm film. The camera supports a 35mm film that was introduced in September 2004’s San Diego Action Sports show. In the company’s first year, GoPro sold over $150,000 worth of products.
When in 2006, they introduced their first Digital Hero with a 10-second video capability, they generated $800,000 in revenue, and then the GoPro sales quadrupled at $3.4 million. Then the company introduced the Digital Still and Video Cameras. Now the company has been making HD video cameras with a wide 170degree lens, and this was all available as of 2014. The company also enable the use of two or more cameras to create a 360-degree video.
The company acquired CineForm on March 30, 2011, and the acquisition also included the CineForm 444 video codec, which was then used in the movie Slumdog Millionaire. Then this system was even encoded into the company’s 3D Hero system.
The company submitted its confidential filing for IPO on February 7, 2014, for the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company filed its S-1 specifying its number of shares and price on May 19, 2014, and they also said that they hoped to raise at least $100 million with the help of these shares. Their symbol on the list of NASDAQ stock exchange was ‘GoPro.’
The expected price range of a share was $21 to $24, and the company sold over 17.8 million shares in IPO at $24 per share, and this totaled up to $427.2 million which paid off the company’s debt, and the company was then valued at $2.96 billion.
In 2017, the company released its HERO6 Black, and it claimed to improve the stabilization over the previous HERO5 model. The camera was able to capture 4K video in 60 FPS. Later in 2018, the company announced that it had sold over 30 million HERO cameras since the company’s inception.
Awards & Achievements
GoPro has achieved many things as once being in a debt of $100 million and getting valued at $3.4 billion. The company has today made more than 30 million sales of its cameras and also has been one of the most valued company. There was a point when the value of this company was US$5 billion. GoPro also started its awards in 2015 and named the program a GoPro Awards program. The company announced that it would give over USD 5 million to the lucky photographer who won it.
Net Worth of GoPro in 2024
Today the total net worth of the company GoPro is estimated to be around $1.5 billion as of April 2024. Well, this is due to its budget cameras that the company has been focussing on, and this is still a good condition for any camera focussed company.
GoPro is one of the market leaders when it comes to action cameras. The company was once just a dream, and today it is making many dreams a reality. The company has also been an inspiration for all the new companies that have very little investment. Nick Woodman today has an authentic worldwide brand.