StudioNow buys VC-backed Snapwire

StudioNow has acquired Snapwire, a marketplace that connects visual creators to brands and businesses who need photos and videos.

StudioNow has acquired Snapwire, a marketplace that connects visual creators to brands and businesses who need photos and videos. No financial terms were disclosed. Snapwire is backed by defy.vc.

PRESS RELEASE

NASHVILLE, Tenn., June 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — StudioNow, the leading global content production marketplace for top brands, agencies, and media companies, announced today its acquisition of Snapwire, a venture-backed marketplace that connects visual creators to brands and businesses who need photos and videos. The combined enterprise has over one million creators available to create content on a global basis.

Snapwire and StudioNow began discussions late last year when leadership from the two organizations determined that both leverage the creator gig-economy in very similar ways. The combination of StudioNow’s focus on comprehensive video solutions together with Snapwire’s successful focus on a self-serve photography and video marketplace is both synergistic and a compelling offering to both companies’ global clients.

“For the past 12 years, StudioNow has been instrumental in helping large brands and media companies scale up content creation by matching them with over 12,000 highly vetted and award-winning creators worldwide,” said David Mason, Founder, and CEO of StudioNow. “With the acquisition of Snapwire, StudioNow will incorporate Snapwire’s powerful marketplace technology that allows companies of all sizes to search creators, browse, tag, communicate, organize, and transact with or without the help of one of our talented producers with a combined one million content creators, influencers, and other members of the Creator Economy.”

Chad Newell, Founder, and CEO of Snapwire said “Joining forces with StudioNow will give our Creators greater opportunities with higher payouts. When we were actively looking for a strategic partner there was no other company better positioned to leverage Snapwire’s technology than StudioNow. With Snapwire’s marketplace platform and StudioNow’s production services, we’ll be a powerhouse fulfilling our mission – to empower creators to do what they love.”

This acquisition is StudioNow’s first in a strategy of consolidating a fragmented segment of the creative industry. “With the Snapwire acquisition we now have a platform that can handle not only our combined networks, but also one that will support that of other acquisition targets, enabling StudioNow to emerge as a market leader within the custom visual content arena,” said CEO, David Mason.

Nashville-based, Martin Miller LLP acted as legal representation for StudioNow, and Cooley LLP acted as legal representation for Snapwire Media, Inc. Madison Alley served as the exclusive financial advisor to StudioNow.