Sincerely, the mobile gifting startup behind the Postagram, Ink, and Sesame apps which allow users to send everything from postcards to greeting cards to even physical gifts from their smartphones, has been acquired by Provide Commerce, the e-commerce business behind a number of big-name brands, including ProFlowers, Shari’s Berries, Red Envelope, and Personal Creations, in an all-cash deal. According to Sincerely founder and CEO Matt Brezina it was a deal that “could not have been better,” where everyone made money, including Sincerely investors.
The company had previously raised $5.5 million in outside funding from Spark Capital, First Round Capital, Charles River Ventures, SV Angel, and others, though only $3 million in funding had been publicly reported before now. Brezina declined to say whether this additional funding was a Series B, or when it closed, however.
Following the acquisition, the entire fourteen-person Sincerely team will continue to work out of their San Francisco-based offices for Provide Commerce, and the apps will not only continue to be supported, they will also be improved upon and invested in. The team will also be doubled over the next 18 months, as development continues.
Provide Commerce was interested in the company because it gives them a foothold on mobile, also at a lower price point – Sincerely’s Postagram and Ink apps let users send out postcards and cards that start at 99 cents and up, while its Sesame app offers a range of gift boxes, some even under $20.
Brezina tells us that under Provide Commerce, Sincerely will begin to expand to new product categories and gifts, too. And while he couldn’t pre-announce any products, the company expects to have new offerings as soon as early 2014. One of those is likely to be a mobile app for ordering flowers, it seems.
“Since the beginning of this company, I’ve wanted to make it easier to send flowers from your mobile phone, and they’re the leading provider of flowers. So you can expect that’s a product category we’re very interested in,” says Brezina.
The Sincerely suite of applications was approaching 3.5 million registered users at the time of the acquisition, and had seen 6.5 million app downloads. It had also shipped products to over 1% of American households (1.5 million unique households.)
Brezina and team are very pleased with the deal’s turnout, as it not only means they get to continue to work on product under the wings of a larger operation, the acquisition was a “great outcome” for all involved.
“It’s so rare that you find alignment between a big, acquiring company and a small company like what we’re doing,” he says.