Hearst Ventures Leads Series A Funding for Pacdora, an Online AI Packaging Design Platform

By Katie Hu, Hearst Ventures

It’s a small step for Pacdora, a giant leap for the packaging design industry.

Hearst Ventures recently announced its lead investment in the Series A of Cloudbox, the provider of “Pacdora”, an AI-driven online packaging design platform. Sequoia China, GGV Capital, Linear Capital participated in the round.

Pacdora is an online packaging design tool launched in 2022 that offers designers over 2000+ dielines templates and 3d rendering capabilities. With Pacdora, users can create custom packaging designs for a variety of products, including food, cosmetics, and electronics. Its 3d rendering function allows users to see how their packaging designs will look in real life, making it easy to make changes and tweaks to the design before it goes to production.

Hearst Ventures Managing Director and China General Manager Katie Hu said, ‘Packaging design has become a highly essential component of consumer brands, a channel for brands to express their ideals and values. Consumers’ rising expectations have driven the packaging design market to become more competitive than ever.’

“We understand how tricky and sometimes annoying it is to use professional design tools like Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. All these dazzling interfaces and buttons. That’s why we created Pacdora, to help optimize the packaging design process,” said Raymond, the CEO of Pacdora. With Pacdora, users can easily select something from a library of customizable templates, input their desired dimensions, and then download a high-resolution of their design in different formats.

However, dieline templates are nothing new. Many companies have also provided template services online — Thedieline, Diecuttemplates, and so on. These online services have been growing in popularity, as they offer a wide range of templates that can be customized to meet the specific needs of any designer. “We do see our rivals’ products and we want to make something different, or say better,” says Raymond.

That’s why Pacdora also offers 3D rendering online. By having the project rendered in 3D, designers can get a realistic sense of how it will look when complete. This can be a valuable tool in the decision-making process, helping packaging designers to choose the right dimensions and finishes. And, of course, it’s a lot of fun to see a project come to life in 3D!

“Our designers are always looking for new and innovative ways to collaborate with each other, so our next step is to allow users to upload their own works and designs. This will create a co-working space where designers belonging to the same team can also edit the work after one of them shares the program online with others. It will help us continue to create amazing designs that our customers love!” said Raymond. “We know there’s a gap to fill when it comes to the relationship between printing factories and design companies, so we’re planning to build an API that can help bridge that gap. But first, we want to make sure that Pacdora can meet all of our users’ needs.”

The global packaging design services market share is expected to grow significantly in the next few years due to increased spending on advertising and product development. According to the report published by Allied Market Research, the global packaging design services industry is growing rapidly. In 2020, the industry generated $21.9 billion and is anticipated to generate $31.9 billion by 2030. A good packaging design is the beginning of everything and that’s where Pacdora has a role to play.

Packaging design is a process that involves connecting different components, such as ancillary design elements, regulatory information, imagery, typography, materials, color, form, and structure. This connection provides suitability to the product for marketing. Yet it is also a real headache for many designers. There are so many things to consider, from the size and shape of the package to the materials to be used. And then there’s the design itself — getting the right balance of form and function is crucial.

Luckily, there’s Pacdora. This is a huge leap forward for the packaging design industry, and it is setting a new standard for packaging design. Pacdora’s innovative design is sure to inspire other companies to follow suit, and we can only hope that this will lead to a more productive future for design.