Monotype Acquires Olapic, Furthers Brand Engagement

Monotype, a nearly 140-year-old font company, announced the intent to acquire Olapic, a company that helps brands curate user-generated images and videos for use in marketing materials. The purchase will be for about $130 million.

Olapic will operate as a division of Monotype, and Monotype plans to offer $19 million to officers and employees in vested stock awards. The deal is expected to close in Q3.

The acquisition will allow Monotype to further its brand engagement strategy through marketing and design—the font company apparently has a broad definition of ‘type,’ having acquired Swyft Media, a startup that creates branded stickers for apps, for $27 million last year.

“Our value has always been predicated on type, technology and expertise, and Olapic strengthens us on all three fronts. Whether an ‘asset’ is type, branded emoji or chat, and now user-generated content, they all serve a similar purpose, which is to elevate a brand’s identity both online and offline,” stated Scott Landers, President and CEO of Monotype.

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According to Olapic, users are often more than happy to share their content with a brand. Most users give explicit consent to brands when asked for their content, and many do it for no cost.

The process is much cheaper than using an agency and in some cases, according to Olapic, more effective than agency-generated content.

“By joining a company with such a deep history working with prominent brands, we believe that we’ll be able to accelerate our go-to-market process by fueling and investing in continued innovation of our Earned Content Platform,” stated Pau Sabria, CEO and co-founder of Olapic.

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