Dropbox picks up cloud-based photo library Snapjoy

Acquisition is the second for Dropbox in a week, after picking up Audiogalaxy

Photo sharing has been a hot space this year, with Instagram first being purchased for $1 billion, then seeing staggering success, getting up to 100 million users. But with Instagram coming under fire recently for changes to its policies, not to mention going to all out war with Twitter, perhaps there may be room for another company to slip in and take some of the action away.

Cloud sharing company Dropbox is one of the companies that is going to try to eat into Instagram’s territory, now that it has purchased cloud-based photo library Snapjoy, which was announced on Snapjoy’s blog Wednesday.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“We built Snapjoy because we wanted a better experience to enjoy our own photos -- we love the product and use it every day. The support we’ve received from people around the world is humbling,” Snapjoy co-founded Michael Dwan wrote.

“As a fellow Y Combinator company, we’ve always admired Dropbox and loved their product. From the moment we met the founders, it was clear we shared a common goal. By combining forces with their amazing team, we can leverage the technology and scale of their platform and focus on what matters -- delivering an incredible photo experience to over 100 million people.

"Dropbox and Snapjoy share a similar vision for changing how people organize and view their photos and most important memories. We respect what the team at Snapjoy has built, and we’re excited about the top-notch talent that is coming on board,” Dropbox said in a statement to VatorNews.

Boulder, Colorado-based Snapjoy was founded in 2011. It is an online photo library that imports users photos from anywhere, including Flickr, Instagram, your phone or computer, and organizes them. Photos can be shared from Snapjoy to social networks, or can be shared privately. The service is also available on iOS.

Whether or not Snapjoy will be continuing to operate as an independent service is unclear. While it says that it will not be accepting any new signups from now on, it also notes that existing members will still be able to continue using the service.

The company is a graduate of Y combinatory, and it says that it is “supported by leading Silicon Valley and New York angel investors.”

Dropbox, which was founded in 2007, is a file-hosting service that uses cloud storage technology to allow users to share files and folders. The San Francisco-based company has over 100 million users across every continent.

The company has raised a total of $257 million, most recently raising a $250 Series B in October 2011, led by Index Ventures, with Benchmark Capital, Goldman Sachs, Greylock Partners, Institutional Venture Partners, RIT Capital Partners and Valiant Capital Partners also investing.

Snapjoy is the second acquisition made by Dropbox in a week, after it bought up music streaming service Audiogalaxy on December 12. In February, Dropbox purchased online collaboration and communication tool Cove for an undisclosed amount.

(Image source: https://www.snapjoy.com)