EU-Startups Podcast | Episode 83: Joaquin Cuenca, Co-founder & CEO of Freepik

In this episode, we catch up with Joaquín Cuenca, Co-founder and CEO of Freepik. With his dynamic leadership and creative vision, Joaquín has driven Freepik’s remarkable growth since its inception in 2010. Based in Malaga, Spain, Freepik has emerged as a global powerhouse in the digital content space, boasting a rich repository of over a million graphic resources.

Under the umbrella of Freepik, they offer world-leading design and creativity tools such as Flaticon, Iconfinder, Slidesgo, Videvo, and Wepik. The firm, which has been primarily bootstrapped, was also listed in the Financial Times “Fastest Growing European Companies” and has grown its team to about 600 employees and more than 52,000 registered contributors. In 2023, they acquired the competing photo marketplace EyeEm, accelerating their expansion into the US.

Joaquín shares the journey of building Freepik and bootstrapping the company to a $300 million valuation. He discusses the tough decisions made to keep growing without raising capital and emphasises the importance of staying focused on users and providing them with a starting point for their creativity. Joaquin also talks about the impact of AI on the company, the need to adapt to the changing landscape of design tools, shares Freepik’s vision to help people create great designs faster, and much more.