A couple of weeks ago Olapic was acquired by Monotype for $130 million.
For those of you that don’t know Olapic, is a startup that helps brands promote themselves with user-generated photos. Even though it’s not a registered Spanish company, the founders; Pau Sabria, Jose de Cabo and Luis Sanz, are all Spanish.
We sat down for a chat with Pau, which was quite relieved after the acquisition was final.
My co-founders and I are very excited about the next chapter for Olapic. It has been an amazing six years for us. At one point early on, we had a make-it-or-break-it moment, so to have come this far is quite satisfying.
Looking back, the three founders could not have chosen a better time to launch a user-generated photos startup.
We launched before Instagram even existed, so we really did not know what was in store for us. We were looking for a way to share photos after attending to a friend’s wedding. Fast-forward six years and we have shifted the way global marketing organizations are interacting with consumers and are influencing hundred of millions of transactions.
Not done with Olapic
None of the three founders are leaving Olapic after the acquistion.
We’re all staying on board to continue to build out the Olapic platform and to affect change in the marketing industry with the use of consumer-generated imagery. We are entering a new era of more authenticity in marketing and look forward to the next few years.
He explains that there has been many sleepless nights, long days, endless travel and tough choices in the last years, and expects more of the same in the years to come as well.
An entrepreneur’s work is never done!
In total Olapic has raised around $21 million in funding since launching.
Apart from working day and night with Olapic, Pau recently got engaged, and will spend a fair amount of time planning the wedding.
Keeping an eye on Spain
Olapic is based out of New York, but Pau is always keeping an eye open for Spanish startups.
It’s always interesting to see how the business environment is growing and evolving in Spain. My family is still there and all of my siblings are also entrepreneurs, it’s in our family blood, so I do like to know what’s happening.
He thinks the biggest difference between Spain and the US is the rapid pace.
Being based in New York, I can say there is an intensity and a deep drive to create new things at a rapid pace. As Spaniards with a broader worldview, being based here allowed us to expand rapidly into Europe and build a global business.
Pau is confident that Monotype will develop Olapic and help the company to expand even further in the future.
Monotype will be able to expose Olapic to creative agencies, creative directors and designers who are increasingly looking at how to include user-generated content as part of the design mix.
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(Written by Sindre Hopland)