Jon Oringer
Founder & Executive Chairman, Shutterstock; Co-founder, Pareto Holdings
Reviewed Updated Jun 3, 2026This profile is AI-generated. If you spot an error, please help us fix it by sharing a URL to the correct information.
Background
Jon Oringer (born May 2, 1974) is an American programmer, photographer, and entrepreneur best known as the founder of Shutterstock 1. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Mathematics from Stony Brook University (1997) and an M.S. in Computer Science from Columbia University (1998) 1. Oringer founded Shutterstock in 2003 after personally photographing approximately 100,000 images over six months; the company IPO’d on the NYSE on October 17, 2012, making Oringer the first reported billionaire to emerge from New York’s “Silicon Alley” tech scene 1. He currently serves as Executive Chairman of Shutterstock 2.
Oringer invests as an angel and as a co-founder of Pareto Holdings, a New York-based investment vehicle 35.
Stated Thesis
No widely published written investment thesis from Oringer was found at time of publication. Per Signal (NFX), his profile shows focus on seed and Series A, sectors of media/content, web3/blockchain, and marketplaces, with geographic concentration in New York City and Raleigh-Durham/Southeast US 3.
Inferred Thesis
Sample size caveat: Aggregator counts vary — Tracxn lists 30 investments 4, Signal records 154 3. This analysis uses the smaller dated subset.
Stage distribution: Predominantly seed and Series A. Of named recent investments (OneImaging Series A 2025, SLUSHY Seed 2024, Unsloth AI Angel 2024, Skedway/Jome/Zamp/Swaap Seed 2023, Along AI Pre-Seed 2022), 6 of 8 (75%) are seed or earlier 3.
Check size: $100K-$5M, with a sweet spot of $1.5M 3. Notably larger than typical operator-angel checks — consistent with a founder of his liquidity profile writing meaningful seed/Series A leads or co-leads.
Sector concentration: Media/content (Shutterstock pedigree), marketplaces, and web3 figure prominently 3. Tracxn additionally lists Consumer and Enterprise Applications among 14+ sectors 4.
Geographic focus: New York-anchored with Southeast US (Raleigh-Durham) as secondary cluster 3.
Notable exits: Reverb, NUE Life, and Aryeo are three named portfolio exits 4.
Portfolio
Selected investments from aggregator profiles. The full Signal portfolio lists 154 deals; only dated examples are shown here.
| Company | Year | Stage | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| OneImaging | 2025-10-14 | Series A | 3 |
| SLUSHY | 2024 | Seed | 3 |
| Unsloth AI | 2024 | Angel | 3 |
| Skedway | 2023 | Seed | 3 |
| Jome | 2023 | Seed | 3 |
| Zamp | 2023 | Seed | 3 |
| Swaap | 2023 | Seed | 3 |
| Along AI | 2022 | Pre-Seed | 3 |
| Reverb | ~2013 (founded) | Angel (exited) | 4 |
| NUE Life | ~2020 (founded) | Angel (exited) | 4 |
| Aryeo | ~2018 (founded) | Angel (exited) | 4 |
In Their Own Words
No independently sourced substantive first-person quotes about investing philosophy were found in dedicated search at time of publication. Oringer’s recorded public commentary (e.g., the Venture Voice podcast appearance 6) primarily covers Shutterstock’s founding and business model.
What Founders Say
No independently sourced founder testimonials about working with Oringer as an investor were found at time of publication.
Sources
-
Wikipedia, “Jon Oringer,” accessed June 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Oringer↩↩↩
-
Shutterstock investor relations, “Jonathan Oringer | Board Member,” accessed June 2026. https://investor.shutterstock.com/board-member/jonathan-oringer↩
-
Signal by NFX, “Jon Oringer’s Investing Profile - Shutterstock,” accessed June 2026. https://signal.nfx.com/investors/jon-oringer↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
-
Tracxn, “Jon Oringer - 2025 Portfolio & Founded Companies,” accessed June 2026. https://tracxn.com/d/people/jon-oringer/__tGEmYzPyFSPF6P9l1JUp_-rh1EISOM0VRdONt4fXSdE↩↩↩↩↩↩
-
Crunchbase, “Jon Oringer - Founder & Executive Chairman @ Shutterstock,” accessed June 2026. https://www.crunchbase.com/person/jon-oringer-9079↩
-
Venture Voice, “Shutterstock’s Jon Oringer turned his amateur photos into a $3 billion business,” April 2021, accessed June 2026. https://venturevoice.com/2021/04/jon-oringer-of-shutterstock.html↩