Ipernity originated in 2005, when the two French programmers Christophe Ruelle and Christian Conti set about programming a photo sharing platform. A first test version was put into operation in 2006, followed by the public beta version in 2007. In December 2008, ipernity proved to be the best photo sharing platform at Mashable's Open Web Awards. In order to finance further development, the website was listed on the Paris Stock Exchange in July 2009. In 2013, a relaunch was presented that was largely based on the former Flickr. At the beginning of 2017, the service was about to close due to economic difficulties.

At this point, some dedicated users have taken the initiative to continue the website independently. To this end, they founded the non-profit Ipernity Members Association (ima) on February 20, 2017 and raised around 29,000 dollars by crowdfunding. An asset deal was negotiated with the previous owners. Since September 1, 2017, the website has been operated by the community itself, which currently has over 3,500 registered users worldwide, including more than 800 voting club members. Operational responsibility remains with ima.

We want to thank:

The start up team for the idea, the realization and a decade of care and support: Christophe Ruelle, Nikos Chiappero, Christian Conti, Lea Cymbalista, Jeremy Gross, Nicolas Vekemans, Julian Shawcross, Audrey Aime.

The volunteers for the translation: Philippe Gratier, Rak Godmeister, Mathieu Topher, Luke Hollins, Phill Price, Rosmen Alvarez, David Abad, Oscar Ciutat, Esteban Díaz, Juan González, Toni Lozano, Antonio Cruz, José Quevedo, Antonio Ríos, Alban Gonzalez, Nicola Losito, Francesca Ballarin, Roberto Ballerini, Francesco Borsotti, Marco Bressi, Manuela Lan, Flavio Leone, Alessandro Marchi, Karmadesigner, Cing Hiospol, Giorgio Pro, Miles Velain, Florian Appel, Klaus Geschwinde, Jörg Muscara, Nicole Burgoz, Mo Noz, Benjamin Friedrichs, Natascha Okroy, Sopran Mezzo, Robin Matern, Christoph Rauch, Lars Reinecke, Michael Richter, Peter Löser, Sascha Assbach, Rolf Mayer, Stefan Roßkopf, Rui Rodriguez, Sandro Mestre, Rui Malheiro, Brune Rebelo, Pedro Rebelo, Jo Matos, Nuno Castro, Antonio Pratas, Isabel Queiroz Marcellot, Cindy McKee, Lodchjo Delkampo, Ivan MG, Yves Nevelsteen, La Pingvino, Paŭl Peeraerts, Lars Sözüer, Kalle Kniivilä, Alesk Arpitano, Notitie van Lien, Rita van Hulst, Wilco Boumans, Geert Pibema, Dany Colson, Oscar Ciutat, Javier Seixas, Zhang Xuesong, Yannick Yin, Chunlei Li, Jin Zou, Cui Jiayou, Karilo Cxinio, Jan Eric Moström, Bengt B., Stefania Forlani, Laura C., Thomas Carlsson, Johan Irjala, Rolf Cronberg, Carul Mare, Mattias Wirf, Robin Rönnlund, Salmon Fighter, Ioannis Stratakis, Manuel Meixide, Manoel Maria, Xose Ramon, Rafal Nicek, Michal Wijciechowski, Andrzei Bach, Krzysztof Jasiutowicz, Lech Ambrzykowski, Haiku Ted, Vladimir Türk, Martin Frolik, Roman Rogner, Khosh Dima, Обезьяна Cзеркалкой, Alexander Shmelkov, Anatoliy Khalizev, Angela Ingwer, Artem Rogozhin, Igor Emelyanov, Sergey Silnov.

The founders of ima, their advisors and assistants: Eric Desjours, William Sutherland, Don Sutherland, Lutz Petersen, Sami Serola, Bernhard Westrup, Pam Johnson, Claus-Peter Unterberger, Christian Bucher, Markus Fritsch, Sara Shrives, Isabel Queiroz, Helena-Paule Fitoussi, Tobias Bauer, Rob Stamp, Guido Werner, Marta Wojtkowska, Thomas Reck, Laura Fletcher, Stefan Roßkopf, Stefan Beck, Rainer Luitjens, Ben Mesander, Corinne Pommerell, Ralph Weichert.

The 548 members who donated $ 29,130 during the crowdfunding in March 2017: www.generosity.com/community-fundraising/ipernity-members-association-a-non-profit-entity

The team of Qwellcode GmbH: www.qwellcode.de
The team of innovations ON GmbH: www.innovations-on.com