From little Parisian website to subscription service juggernaut, My Little Paris has come a long way. Earlier this week, Aufeminin acquired the company. We’ve learned from multiple sources that Aufeminin agreed to pay around $90 million (€66.7 million) for the acquisition. Part of Axel Springer, Aufeminin is one of the largest lifestyle website in France.
For now, Aufeminin spent $54 million (€40 million) in cash to acquire 60 percent of My Little Paris, with future plans to acquire the rest of the company. It’s a great success story for its four co-founders — the startup only put together $6,700 (€5,000) of initial capital.
In 2008, before becoming a highly-valued subscription service, My Little Paris started out as a woman-centric weekly newsletter to share restaurant advice and various urban tips. The newsletter rapidly attracted a healthy subscriber base. Today, more than a million people receive the recommendation newsletter three times a week.
Now, the content is available on its website, as well as on sister websites My Little Lyon, My Little Marseille and other verticals (My Little Book Club, My Little Wedding…).
But the most important part of the business is no longer the websites — My Little Paris shouldn’t be considered as a content-first company. In 2011, the company launched , a subscription service for women. Every month, subscribers receive a box of beauty and fashion items carefully curated by the startup. So far, 70,000 people have subscribed for $21 (€15.50) a month.
My Little Paris has launched other types of boxes, such as Gambettes Box, a subscription service for tights. In the end, the content business was a great way to attract customers for its subscription service. It is one of the best examples of content monetization.
Thanks to this acquisition, the My Little Paris team has international expansion plans in mind. For now, the company remains very France-centered. The company will certainly target women in urban areas in order to reproduce its French successes around the world.
(Image credit: homard.net)