Shutterfly acquires Spoonflower – helping over a million designers

Shutterfly (Redwood City, California), a pioneer in online photo sharing and a leading digital retail and manufacturing platform for personalized products, has acquired Spoonflower, a global marketplace of custom fabric, wallpaper and home décor designs. The acquisition for about $225 million of enterprise value will be subject to certain working capital conditions and other adjustments. More importantly, the move will also increase the depth and breadth of what people can create, customize and buy on the Shutterfly platform – including wallpaper, fabric and home décor – and will connect 21 million active Shutterfly users to more than 1 million designs by independent artists across the Spoonflower global marketplace. Shutterfly pioneered online photo sharing more than 20 years ago and has enabled millions of people around the world to create a wide range of personalized products. Spoonflower was founded more than 10 years ago to fill a market need for print-on-demand fabrics, and has grown its product lines to include wallpaper and home decor items in a global design marketplace.

“At Shutterfly, we believe that anyone can be a creator. That’s why we’re expanding the aperture of what you can discover, make and buy on our platform,” said Hilary Schneider, CEO at Shutterfly. “This strategic acquisition helps us expand our lens on creativity to include not only photo personalization, but also a full range of custom designs created by independent artists. And we’ll break down the barriers to creating and discovering custom products, gifts and home décor items by providing expanded access to high-quality manufacturing and production at scale for individual creators and small businesses alike. We’re delighted to welcome Spoonflower to the Shutterfly family of brands.”

Countless customized and customer-designed product options will soon be available with over a million designs already available in the Spoonflower global marketplace – with the ability to customize thousands of high-quality products in the Shutterfly catalogue. Shutterfly customers will be able to buy custom designs or customize their own products in the Spoonflower global artist marketplace, while designers and artists will be able to sell their designs on Shutterfly or other platforms. Spoonflower powers a diverse community of more than 3.3 million artists, creators and businesses with 4,000 new designs uploaded on average every day. Spoonflower is based in the tech hub Research Triangle Park (RTP) area in Durham, North Carolina with an international office in Berlin.

“We’re thrilled to join the Shutterfly family because we found the perfect fit for our business, products, team and community as we work together to address the growing market opportunity,” said Michael Jones, General Manager of Spoonflower. “We are excited about the opportunity to offer Shutterfly customers a wider assortment of custom-designed products like wallpaper, fabrics, linens and bedding and to connect them with Spoonflower’s community of artists, while enabling our makers to scale their business as a direct result of Shutterfly’s vast manufacturing capabilities and expertise.”