VSCO Relies on MongoDB to Store Terabytes of Data

Enables Fast-growing Start-up to Scale with Efficient, Reliable User Experience; Data Set on Pace for Exponential Growth

PALO ALTO, CA and NEW YORK, NY — May 14, 2014 — MongoDB, the database for modern applications, today announced that VSCO, an Oakland-based company that creates beautiful and efficient digital tools for the modern creative, is using MongoDB to store data that is on pace for exponential growth. When relational database tools failed to meet the scale demands of the fast-growing start-up, VSCO turned to MongoDB to ensure horizontal scale and fast response times for users all over the world.

The VSCO Cam mobile app enables users to take photos, edit them with sophisticated tools and then share via the VSCO Grid, a publishing platform that serves as an online gallery to discover and follow various photographers. The meta data for these photos is stored in MongoDB – e.g. geo location, “Presets” (filters), and other data – which allows VSCO to efficiently manage a fast-growing data set. By enabling VSCO to quickly iterate without worrying about schema changes, MongoDB has helped the company deliver features significantly faster than with a traditional relational database.

“Our mission is to provide our global creative community with products and services to create beautiful imagery. These goals depend on our ability to quickly deliver jaw dropping, inspiring images to mobile devices spread around the globe,” said Mike Wu, CTO at VSCO. “MongoDB makes that possible, allowing us to design applications that solve the social graph challenge with effective horizontal scale that maintains fast response times for distributing feeds.”

Since more than 70% of the VSCO community is international, their application must ensure that someone in Malaysia or Saudi Arabia has the same great experience as users in California. To accomplish this, VSCO plans on leveraging the flexible sharding features of MongoDB to control the physical location of data, ensuring the data of each user remains close and rapidly accessible. The result is that no matter where a user uploads their content, they can expect to have a better engaging experience from the VSCO Grid and Journal.

“With the power of MongoDB driving innovative, modern applications, start-ups like VSCO are able to support exponential growth,” said Max Schireson, CEO at MongoDB. “As VSCO pursues its passion to create an experience for people to discover and be inspired by art, MongoDB will enable them to quickly meet demand and increase their global footprint with an efficient, reliable user experience.”

About VSCO
VSCO is passionate about creating beautiful and efficient digital tools and services for the modern creative. Formed in 2011, the company is based in Oakland, CA with offices in Colorado and New York.

About MongoDB, Inc.
MongoDB makes development simple and beautiful. For tens of thousands of organizations, MongoDB provides agility and the freedom to scale. Fortune 500 enterprises, startups, hospitals, governments and organizations of all kinds use MongoDB because it is the best database for modern applications. Through simplicity, MongoDB changes what it means to build. Through openness, MongoDB elevates what it means to work with a software company. Please visit www.MongoDB.com to learn more.