Behind The Deal: Olapic acquired by Monotype for $130M

Last week news broke of the $130 million acquisition of Spanish-founded Olapic by Monotype, an American font mogul. This comes just a few months after Olapic announced their acquisition of Piqora and one month after the relaunching of their brand, website, and company focus.

Olapic has continuously climbed the ladder to success since the 3 Spanish founders (Jose de Cabo, Pau Sabria, and Luis Sanz) united at Colombia Business School and launched in 2010.

This acquisition says a lot for the marketing world and could revolutionize ecommerce activity.

Who are the companies?

Olapic found its roots in New York in 2010 as a wedding photo app that gathered photos from multiple sources into one platform. This idea grew and changed as the founders learned more and eventually became the leading visual marketing platform. They saw an opportunity to dive into the retail world and never looked back.

The company’s mission is outlined on their website stating:

“Brands need better content that relates to their audiences’ lives, and they need more of it to fill the growing number of relevant channels while driving towards their business goals. Olapic enables brands to visually communicate in a new way, using real customer images and videos in every touchpoint.”

The founders understand that in a social media driven world, pushing authentic content is key. Visual communication through smartphones, Facebook, Instagram, and the like has revolutionized how advertising works. Large companies now look for the best, most lucrative way to approach their customer base through the lenses of social media. Olapic offers a library of user-generated photos that offer a more personal touch to advertising the consumer can connect with.

Monotype is an American based typeface company dating all the way back to the 1880s. Recently, the brand responsible for Times New Roman has been a successful tycoon poaching talent and companies in the world of design content. Their vision is to “empower expression and engagement through a combination of type, technology and expertise.”

Through the years Monotype has had powerful acquisitions of its own to make them the leaders of branding and marketing they are. Today, their scripts are used across the world to assist in media advertising and branding. In 2015, Monotype assisted Southwest Airlines in their rebranding with the creation of “Southwest Sans,” the new font and trademark of the airline.

The perfect marriage?

The terms of this acquisition include the founders of Olapic, along with their entire leadership staff, staying on board to see the mission through. Monotype already has a strong hold on the typeface industry and with this acquisition hope to expand and strengthen their brand engagement strategy with the addition of user-generated content.

This app that began as a wedding photo sharing tool has evolved and found its own soulmate. Pau Sabria, Co-Founder and CEO of Olapic, released a blog on behalf of his partners:

“For Olapic, and Monotype, this is a continued movement toward our goal. We look forward to the next phase of our journey, together, in bringing our clients, partners, and colleagues from where they are now to where they have not been.”

The deal is expected to close in Q3 2016.