Envato acquires Mexican design startup Placeit

Melbourne tech company Envato is further expanding its design offering, acquiring Mexican startup Placeit for an undisclosed amount.

Founded in 2012, the Guadalajara company provides 50,000 paying customers including Google, Facebook, and Oracle with digital mockup and template tools. Similar to the likes of Canva, the platform allows users to easily create and edit templates for everything from logos to t-shirts and social media posts.

Stating more than 87 percent of its customers come from outside Mexico, the company reports it has sold more than seven million templates, with its most recently recorded annual recurring revenue (ARR) over US$3 million ($4 million).

With Envato’s subscription business Envato Elements boasting an ARR of $21 million, Envato cofounder and CEO Collis Ta’eed, said the acquisition extends Envato’s offering in “a big way”.

“With Placeit we’re opening up Envato’s creative magic to absolutely anyone. Whether it’s an entrepreneur just getting started, a marketer working on their own, or just a pro user who doesn’t want the hassle of opening Photoshop – Placeit is just plain fun and simple to use,” he said.

“My ‘aha’ moment with Placeit was sitting down with my kids to make a logo for their basketball team. Watching a seven year old make something that I, as a professional designer, liked was pretty special, and really solidified to me what an opportunity Placeit has to connect with a whole different design audience. Seeing something come to life that simply was not possible before is why I love working in the tech industry.”

Navid Safabakhsh, founder of Placeit, said he believes the company is a perfect match for Envato, with the acquisition building on the strengths of both companies.

“The origin story for Placeit is very similar to the one Envato has; we came up with an online, smart solution to a very particular set of problems that many digital creatives face around the world today, anchored by hard-working local tech talent,” he said.

Envato itself has been working to find new ways to boost local tech talent, and in particular the gender diversity of its team.

The company recently launched the second run of its Apprentice Develop Program, which pairs female applicants with a dedicated mentor who helps train them to become junior developers at Envato within 12 months. Participants are fully paid.

Michelle Ridsdale, chief people officer at Envato, said of the initiative, “This program is allowing us to take women who are passionate about embarking on a career in software development and raise their technical skills to a level where they are not just an asset to Envato, but to the sector more broadly.”

mage: Envato’s Melbourne team. Source: Envato.