Messaging Platform Kik Acquires Fashion App Blynk
Kik Interactive has acquired Blynk.
The messaging company bought the four-person, Toronto-based fashion app for an undisclosed sum.
The Next 36-born Blynk uses a Tinder-like, swipe-based interface to create personal styles for users. The startup was founded in 2013 by Jaclyn Ling and Shums Kassam.
Kik, founded in 2009, this year raised $50 million from Tencent, China’s largest internet company, and is now valued at up to $1 billion.
The Canadian company is looking to expand beyond its core features in the hopes of becoming a more broadly applicable, central platform for everything.
Blynk had struggled to find a way to monetize on its own. Now under Kik’s umbrella, the startup’s value will likely hail from data collection.