Legacy Republic, which is building a freelance workforce to help families digitize their photos and videos, just acquired competitor Yarly.
Digitization company YesVideo launched its Legacy Republic initiative last fall. Yarly, meanwhile, has a similar mission of digitizing photos or, as Legacy Republic Brian Knapp put it, of “preserving family memories.”
Knapp said that by acquiring Yarly, Legacy Republic can grow its team of Legacy Makers, i.e. the freelancers who actually work with families on the digitizing. It sounds like Knapp’s team is still in the process of bringing on Yarly partners, but he said the top three partners are already committed, and “a dozen or more” partners should be coming on-board.
As for Yarly’s executives, CEO and founder Allison Strouse will be joining Legacy Republic as an executive adviser. It’s not a full-time role (Strouse is also COO at New York City startup SamyRoad), but Knapp said she will “remain very involved in our company.”
The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Knapp added that this is Legacy Republic’s first acquisition, “but it won’t be our last,” particularly if these deals help the company bring on more Legacy Makers. He predicted that we’ll see more competition as different services try to recruit freelancers. Those “micro entrepreneurs” won’t just be choosing between Legacy Republic and competitors, he said, but also between Legacy Republic and other on-demand services like Uber.
Why choose Legacy Republic? Here’s how Knapp sees it: “Sure, I could drive my car around, but I could also solve a real problem for families.”