Monotype acquires custom sticker company

Monotype Imaging Holdings of Woburn, one of the world’s largest font-licensing companies, will pay $12 million to acquire Swyft Media, a New York-based mobile marketing startup.

Monotype, which owns the rights to fonts including Times New Roman and Helvetica, said Monday morning that Swyft’s small staff would be joining its New York office. Swyft said it has created branded content and custom digital stickers for hundreds of the world’s largest brands, including Coors, Sony, and Hearst. Users swap the stickers with friends using messaging apps, giving companies more exposure.

“We’re excited to welcome Swyft Media to Monotype,” said Doug Shaw, Monotype’s chief executive, in a statement. “The acquisition provides us with a significant opportunity to move down market and serve the explosive numbers of consumers across the globe who are hungry for new and unique ways to express themselves in messaging apps – with millennials at the heart of that movement and our fonts an important part of that self-expression.”

Under the terms of the deal, Monotype paid $12 million for Swyft and gave its shareholders the chance to earn another $15 million based on the unit’s performance through 2017. Swyft, which last had a million-dollar seed funding round in 2013 according to the venture capital database CrunchBase, will make $3 million in revenue this year.