- Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) is buying GIF search engine GIPHY for a reported $400 million
Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) is buying GIF search engine GIPHY. The terms of the deal were undisclosed, but Axios’ sources said it was valued at $400 million.
Alex Chung and Jace Cooke launched GIPHY in 2013 and the company raised over $150 million in funding since then. As of July 2017, GIPHY said it was hitting 200 million daily active users between the API and the website.
GIPHY is integrated into a number of mobile apps and social media services. It also offers built-in search and stickers for Facebook’s photo social network Instagram. GIPHY will continue to be used on Instagram along with other apps. Plus GIPHY users will also still be able to upload GIFs.
Facebook is going to invest in additional technology development for GIPHY and build new relationships for the company on the content side along with the developer end. Around 50% of GIPHY’s traffic comes from Facebook’s apps, including Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Many people use GIPHY for sharing animated GIFs on Apple iMessage and Messages on Google Android.
Facebook has been using GIPHY’s API for its own apps. And GIPHY will become part of the Instagram team. The GIPHY app will be deeply integrated into Instagram for Stories and Direct Messages.
Key Quotes:
“GIPHY was created in 2013 with a simple goal in mind: to make communication more fun. Seven years and several trillion GIFs later, the scope of our mission might be larger, but the goal remains the same. We’ve always wanted to make the way you express yourself funnier, more exciting…and maybe just a little bit weirder. That’s why we’re thrilled to announce that GIPHY has been acquired by Facebook and is joining the team at Instagram. Instagram has revolutionized self-expression. More than 1 billion people use Instagram to communicate how they’re feeling and what they’re passionate about — we can’t wait to help those people become even more animated!”
– GIPHY Company Statement
“GIFs and stickers give people meaningful and creative ways to express themselves. We see the positivity in how people use GIPHY in our products today, and we know that bringing the GIPHY team’s creativity and talent together with ours will only accelerate how people use visual communication to connect with each other.”
– Vishal Shah, VP of Product at Instagram
