The latest acquisition for Cimpress is not another print company to add to a network on online print brands, but software supplier CloudLab.
Cimpress has invested in the web to print applications developer over four years and has now acquired the German business in a move which secures the company and ensures a closer integration between the CloudLab front end applications and the Cimpress Mass Customisation Engine. Cloudlab will continue to operate as an independent company with customers other than Cimpress.
CloudLab’s directors Marc Horriar and Ionut Berescu as CEO and CTO continue with the business and say that the extra input from Cimpress will accelerate developments to the benefit of all customers. The company is centred in Dortmund and has 80 staff across five locations worldwide.
It brought its first product PrintQ to market in 2013 and five years later introduced PackQ for online packaging design and specification. The product line up is completed with BrandQ, a tool for marketing and brand management.
Customers include both corporates and printers. Cewe, which owns Saxoprint, was an early adopter of Print Q, followed by FlyerAlarm. Cimpress became a customer in 2018. In the UK CloudLab has been distributed through Transeo Media since 2020.
Horriar says: “The support from Cimpress has enabled us to accelerate our vision over the past few years. We have gained valuable insights and found that our cultures are a perfect match, and Cimpress’ fully supports our commitment to serve all customers equally, even those who compete with Cimpress.
“As a result, we were never under pressure to sell. Cimpress took the time to show us the immense potential that being part of the Cimpress group unlocks, allowing us to significantly drive the future of print mass customisation for all our customers as a decentralised subsidiary.”
Cimpress first took a stake in CloudLab in 2022, seeing the potential in online specification and design of print, publishing and packaging products. Cimpress CEO Robert Keane says that CloudLab has market leading technology and that its innovation fits well with the Cimpress approach. He adds: “Becoming a majority shareholder of CloudLab is the next logical step. Our goal is clear: we would like to offer our customers worldwide the best possible experience in design enablement. That is precisely why we are reinforcing the factors that make CloudLab so successful: its technological edge and entrepreneurial independence.”
