Monotype, a Nasqad-listed typeface design company, has bought for $130M Olapic, a startup founded by 3 Spaniards in 2010 that has developed a tool that allows any company to interact with its customers through photographs.
What is Olapic? Its evolution to what it is now
Olapic was born as a platform for exchanging wedding photos, went on to offer newspapers a catalogue of images taken by readers and, finally, became a service that allows any brand to promote its products through customer photos.
One of Olapic's maxims has always been to be an innovative company that responds to the needs of the people on the street and this has allowed them to have great acceptance in the market and for investors to bet on them.
"When we succeed, we think the world won't change, probably because we don't want it to," says Davila. But it will change anyway, so the only way to keep up is to be flexible and think big.
Monotype buys Olapic
Now MonotypeMonotype, the large typeface design company, has bought Olapic for $130M to expand the solutions it can provide to its clients in the areas of marketing and design and move further into the digital world. Today, Monotype, born more than 130 years ago, owns the rights to thousands of typefaces used around the world.
Olapic will operate as a subsidiary of Monotype, with its three founders at the helm. «The great thing about the sale to Monotype is that they aren't going to chop us up into little pieces, they're going to keep investing in the product, watering the plant. We'll remain at the helm and it's going to be even more fun,» says one of its partners.
Funding secured by Olapic in the past
Before being bought by Monotype, Olapic had already received $21M funding in 4 rounds. Founded in 2010, it has received from 2011 to 2015 one round every year. The last round in 2015 was for $15M.
Investors that have participated in the company include Felix Capital, which led the last round, Fung Capital USA and Great Oaks Venture Capital.
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