Printing site PhotoBox snaps up London-based Instagram firm

THE COMPANY behind the PhotoBox online printers and the Moonpig greeting cards website has acquired StickyGram, a service that allows Instagram’s 130m users to turn their creations into fridge magnets.

London-based PhotoBox Group, which was created in 2011 when PhotoBox and Moonpig merged, will announce the deal today. It has not disclosed how much it paid, although City A.M. understands the deal values StickyGram at between £5m and £10m.

“Next to Moonpig and Photobox, [StickyGram] adds a third, profitable and fast-growing global brand to our business,” PhotoBox Group chief executive Stan Laurent said.

Laurent, a former AOL executive, said StickyGram’s global footprint would help PhotoBox expand internationally, and that PhotoBox’s backing would enable StickyGram to expand into new product areas, in the same way Moonpig now sells personalised gifts as well as cards.

StickyGram, bought from Clerkenwell development studio Mint Digital, generates most of its revenues in the US, Brazil and Japan whereas PhotoBox’s key markets are the US and France.

Instagram, a Facebook-owned mobile app for editing and sharing photos, is now one of the world’s most popular social networks.