In bigger cities, the consumer brands tend to get all the glory. We’re lucky to have so many amazing consumer brands headquartered in Vancouver, from Native Shoes and Arc’teryx to Pavilion grads Monos and Fable. But there is so much innovation happening here that we don’t normally get to see.

It’s one of the great things about working at Pavilion: the chance to discover and interact with companies that you might not hear about otherwise. Take Skylab, for example. The company uses AI technology to automate photo editing, freeing up photographers and technologists to focus on their creative output without getting bogged down with menial tasks. It’s been so successful that in 2023, Skylab was acquired by a US private equity firm.

Here, cofounder TJ Rak discusses their inspiration, their acquisition, and their recent move out of Pavilion.

Let’s go back to the beginning. Where did the idea for Skylab come from?

Skylab started in a pretty scrappy way. Back in 2018, we were a small team of creatives and technologists working inside photo studios, wrestling with repetitive editing workflows. We saw how much time was spent on tasks that could be automated—but nothing on the market felt tailored to high-volume environments like school and sports photography. So, we started building tools for ourselves, testing them in real-world studios. That’s where the idea for Skylab came from: a frustration with inefficiency, and a belief that AI could help photographers focus on their craft, not just corrections.

What was the hole you were trying to fill in the market?

The hole in the market was clear. Labs and studios were dealing with unpredictable turnaround times, inconsistent quality, and rising costs. Meanwhile, AI was evolving fast, but it wasn’t accessible or trustworthy enough for professionals. We wanted to bridge that gap—to build tech that photographers would actually want to use. Tools that were fast, consistent, and integrated directly into existing production pipelines.

In layman’s terms, how does the tech work?

In simple terms, Skylab’s technology automates the most repetitive parts of image editing—things like exposure correction, background replacement, skin retouching, and cropping. But it’s not just about slapping a filter on a batch of photos. Our AI is trained on real studio data and fine-tuned to deliver studio-grade consistency, even at massive scale (I’m talking thousands of images in a single job). And because every studio has its own aesthetic, we built customization into the platform from the start.

With any business, scalability is crucial. How do you grow your business while staying true to your mission and the quality of your work?

Scalability is everything in this industry, but we never wanted to grow at the expense of quality. As we’ve grown, we’ve stayed close to our customers. Many of our best features came from listening to what studios actually needed—and then building with them, not just for them. The journey was made by the people we worked with in our office and the teams that trusted us to be their partners.

Let’s talk about your acquisition: why was that the right move?

In late 2023, we were acquired by a US-based private equity firm named Charlesbank that had been watching our growth and saw potential to bring our tools to a much wider audience. The timing felt right. We’d proven the tech, we were profitable, and we were ready to scale further—but we needed infrastructure and sales reach beyond what we could build alone. It was a strategic acquisition to join forces with our largest integration partner, ImageQuix, which was already part of the Charlesbank portfolio. Together, we’re now part of a bigger entity called Captura, which unites industry-leading products and expertise from ImageQuix, PhotoLynx, Fotomerchant, Simplephoto, and of course, Skylab to serve the high-volume photography space.

You’ve just moved out of Pavilion. What did you love most about the space, and what will you miss the most?

We’ve been lucky to call Pavilion home for five years. When we first moved in, we were just five people and still figuring it out. Pavilion gave us space to grow, experiment, and feel like we were part of an entrepreneurial ecosystem. The energy in the building is special—there’s a real mix of ambition and support that’s hard to find. We’ll definitely miss the coffee machine and vibes, but we’re excited to move just down the street and take that same culture with us into a bigger space. In some ways, we’ll never leave.

Your company culture is known to be incredibly healthy. How do you build that authentically?

The culture we’ve built at Skylab is one of the things I’m proudest of. It’s not something you can fake. We’ve always been honest with each other, quick to share wins, and even quicker to take responsibility when things go wrong. We’re intentional about creating room for people to grow, plus have a fun culture of personal development that operates like a championship sports team. I think that authenticity and transparency go a long way—and it shows in how our team shows up every day. I can’t say enough about the team and how amazing each of them are. They’ve made me better. It’s something we’re excited to bring to Captura, too, where culture and collaboration remain central to how we work across teams and time zones.

What’s next for the company?

As part of Captura, we’re focused on expanding on our existing technology and pushing what’s possible with AI—especially when it comes to personalization and predictive tools. No matter how far we scale, our North Star is the same: help photographers deliver beautiful images faster and more affordably than ever before, and keep enjoying ourselves while we do it.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.