Publicly-traded photography giant Shutterstock has acquired PicMonkey, a Seattle startup founded nine years ago that provides online photo editing and graphic design tools.
Shutterstock paid $110 million in cash for the deal, which will contribute about 3% to the company’s annual revenues and add more than 200,000 subscribers.
Shutterstock, which went public in 2012, reported revenue of $189.9 million for its second fiscal quarter this year, up 16%, and 321,000 subscribers, up 44%.
The New York-based company launched nearly two decades ago. It is known as a global provider of stock photography but also offers creative tools and music/video clips.
Shutterstock said integrating PicMonkey will “further empower our customers, regardless of their skill level or expertise, to create beautiful, best-in-class content with efficiency and ease in just a few clicks.” It estimates the market opportunity for creative software and design tools at $8 billion.
Founded in 2012, PicMonkey targets small businesses and brands with its suite of cloud-based tools. The company said 10 billion images have been made on its platform. PicMonkey’s product will continue to exist for now; its stock photography will now be provided by Shutterstock.
PicMonkey employs around 50 people; all were offered equivalent or better roles with Shutterstock. The startup raised $41 million in 2015 from Spectrum Equity. It is currently led by CEO Frits Habermann, a former exec at Adobe, Lynda.com, and PopCap Games. Chairman Jonathan Sposato, the company’s former CEO, previously helped start another photo-editing tool called Picnik that was sold to Google.
Habermann called the acquisition a “great outcome” for investors. He said he will continue to work with Shutterstock for the near future.
“The explosion of digital marketing and social media has seen a great demand for easy to use and affordable tools for everyday creators, as well as the need for compelling pre-made content and templates for quick and professional-looking solutions,” he told GeekWire. “The combination of PicMonkey with Shutterstock allows us to provide a robust platform that combines visual tools and content that accelerates our current growth and profitability along with expanding into enterprise and international.”
In July, Shutterstock paid $35 million to acquire three AI entities: Pattern89 Inc., Datasine Limited and assets from Shotzr, Inc.
Editor’s note: GeekWire chairman Jonathan Sposato is chairman of PicMonkey.
