Printful is Latvia’s first start-up to gain unicorn status, having been valued at more than $1bn (£800m).
Today (6 June), the company announced that it had acquired US-headquartered Snow Commerce for an undisclosed sum.
Snow Commerce is based in Cincinnati and provides managed ecommerce services used by a number of leading brands to cash in on merchandise opportunities among their fan communities.
Its customers include Minecraft, Warner Bros Discovery, the Star Trek shop, Hulu, X-Box and many others.
Snow Commerce CEO Rick Simpson said the business had been partnering with brands for more than a decade “to build engagement and excitement in their fandoms”.
“Joining forces with Printful allows us to provide a fully-integrated solution, with the highest quality on a global scale, tailored to each brand, and operated by experts in every facet of ecommerce.
“This will lead to even more engaging experiences for fans, and larger and stronger fandoms for our clients.”
Simpson will helm Printful’s business division focused on enterprise customers, with the Snow Commerce brand retained for this part of its offering.
Printful and Snow Commerce team members celebrate the deal
Printful CEO Alex Saltonstall said he was delighted about the acquisition.
He noted that ecommerce technology helped large brands to manage spikes in interest and commercial demand.
“Together, our organisations meet this challenge and help our partners fully realise the opportunity. The result is growing fandoms that engage with online experiences and purchase from a rich set of products that they love,” he said.
“We now partner with hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs and emerging and established brands; with a powerful combination of technology, services, and an on-demand supply chain designed for people with infinite ideas and a planet with finite resources.”
Printful was founded a decade ago. It has shipped more than 64m items since and has developed a worldwide network that combines in-house fulfilment – including a site in Wolverhampton – with strategic partners.
Image shows, seated left-to-right: Rick Simpson, president of Snow Commerce; Printful CEO Alex Saltonstall; Katie Davidson SVP of growth strategy at Snow Commerce. Standing, left-to-right: Printful COO Zane Levsa; Ingus Zelenkovs, Printful’s head of business development; and Adam Hutzelman, VP of operations at Snow Commerce.
