Pinterest is going public. Here are the companies it has taken over.
- Using data from Crunchbase Pro, Markets Insider highlighted the 15 acquisitions made by Pinterest since its inception in 2009.
- The target companies span a wide variety of categories, including social networks for peer-based restaurant recommendations and recipe sharing.
- Pinterest's first acquisition was in 2010 and its latest was in 2017.
- Go to MarketsInsider.com for more information on Pinterest.
Pinterest, the website for "pinning" images and shopping, has plans to go public this week at a valuation of $11 billion, which is lower than the $12 billion valuation it received from its most recent funding round.
Pinterest is planning to set the range for its initial public offering at between $15 and $17 a share, giving it a valuation of $11.3 billion at the upper end of the range. Pricing for the IPO is expected this week and shares will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker PINS.
Similar to fellow "unicorn" Lyft, Pinterest lost money in 2018. The company reported a net loss of $63 million with revenue of $756 million in revenue in 2018.
Though frequently compared to social-media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, Pinterest has described itself in filing documents as a place for "search", "dreaming" and "productivity."
Pinterest was founded in 2009 by Ben Silbermann, Evan Sharp and Paul Sciarra. Since its inception, it has acquired more than fifteen other start-ups such as Livestar, Flesky, and JellyHQ. The acquisitions fall under a variety of categories, but the majority are tied to Pinterest's core mission of sharing and discovering creative ideas.
Using data from Crunchbase Pro, we profile the companies below:
1. JellyHQ - Acquired: March 2017
Founders: Ben Finel and Biz Stone
Date Founded: April 2013
Total Funding Amount: Not disclosed
Acquisition Amount: Not disclosed
Description: A search engine designed to employ loosely distributed networks of people coordinating via Jelly to help each other, akin to the loose-nerve distribution of a jellyfish.
The company was downloaded a half a million times at launch, but activity dwindled substantially ahead of the acquisition by Pinterest.
2. Instapaper - Date Acquired: August 2016
Founder: Marco Arment
Date Founded: 2008
Total Funding Amount: Not disclosed
Acquisition Amount: Not disclosed
Description: A web app that allows users to save web pages which facilitate the reading of longer-text content that users may wish to return to.
3. Math Camp - Date Acquired: July 2016
Founder: Paul Davison
Date Founded: 2011
Total Funding Amount: $5.5 million
Acquisition Amount: Not disclosed
Description: Math Camp develops a variety of social media and photography apps. The company developed "Shorts" and "Roll," which enable the sharing of photo libraries with friends.
4. Tote - Date Acquired: July 2016
Founders: Abzur Amini, Langtian Lang, and Mike Bidgoli
Date Founded: 2015
Total Funding Amount: Not disclosed
Acquisition Amount: Not disclosed
Description: Social shopping app whereby stylists and bloggers can use Tote's publishing platform to showcase collections for their clients.
5. Fleksy Inc. - Date Acquired: November 2018
Founders: Ioannis Verdelis and Kosta Eleftheriou
Date Founded: May 2011
Total Funding Amount: $5.9 million
Acquisition Amount: Not disclosed
Description: Software keyboard designed to support fast typing on smartphones.
6. URX - Date Acquired: May 2016
Founders: Andrew Look, James Turner, John Milinovich, and Nathanael Smith
Date Founded: February 2013
Total Funding Amount: $15 million
Acquisition Amount: Not disclosed
Description: Helps publishers monetize mobile content through the placement of relevant product ads.
7. Curato & Co. - Date Acquired: April 2016
Founder: Daniel Nordh
Date Founded: 2012
Total Funding Amount: Not disclosed
Acquisition Amount: Not disclosed
Description: App focused on helping "creatives" through a tool that organizes visual story-telling.
8. Pext - Date Acquired: December 2015
Founder: Harsh Goel
Date Founded: February 2015
Total Funding Amount: Not disclosed
Acquisition Amount: Not disclosed
Description: Mobile app that instantly turns messages into memes. The app helps individuals discover images and sends them to a group or person through social media.
9. Hike Labs - Date Acquired: April 2015
Founders: Jason Shellen and Mike Demers
Date Founded: 2014
Total Funding Amount: Not disclosed
Acquisition Amount: Not disclosed
Description: Offers a mobile blogging and publishing application.
10. Kosei - Date Acquired: January 2015
Founders: Jure Leskovec and Lance Riedel
Date Founded: 2014
Total Funding Amount: Not disclosed
Acquisition Amount: Not disclosed
Description: Personalized mobile ads, through an understanding of product relationship based on expert networks.
11. Icebergs - Date Acquired: Jul 2014
Founders: Albert Pereta and Cesar Isern
Date Founded: February 2013
Total Funding Amount: 200,000 euros
Acquisition Amount: Not disclosed
Description: Spanish web-based application that enables its users to organize their projects and research.
12. VisualGraph - Date Acquired: January 2014
Founder: Kevin Jing
Date Founded: 2013
Total Funding Amount: Not disclosed
Acquisition Amount: Not disclosed
Description: Social network to connect inspiring images.
13. Hackermeter - Date Acquired: October 2013
Founder: Frost Li
Date Founded: May 2013
Total Funding Amount: $120,000
Acquisition Amount: Not disclosed
Description: Website where developers take code challenges.
14. Livestar - Date Acquired: March 2013
Founder: Fritz Lanman
Date Founded: January 2011
Total Funding Amount: $2 million
Acquisition Amount: Not disclosed
Description: App that lets you get recommendations from friends and people with similar tastes. The app provides recommendations for restaurants and other categories.
15. Punchfork - Date Acquired: January 2013
Founder: Jeff Miller
Date Founded: March 2010
Total Funding Amount: $2 million
Acquisition Amount: Not disclosed
Description: Enables users to discover recipes through conversations and from popular food sites to share them with friends.
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