Amsterdam-based cloud company WeTransfer has announced that it has for all intents and purposes acquired the iOS developer FiftyThree, best known for the popular and award-winning immersive sketching app Paper, along with the more recent slide deck app, Paste. While the WeTransfer announcement officially states that it has acquired the apps themselves, the deal also includes FiftyThree’s entire patent, IP, and trademark portfolio, all assets for the applications themselves, and FiftyThree’s founders Georg Petschnigg and Andrew Allen.
It appears only the name itself has been left behind, with WeTransfer noting that it will be moving the apps under the WeTransfer brand, likely using them as part of its continued push into the creative user community.
The addition of WeTransfer’s resources and infrastructure will also likely result in Paper expanding onto the web, with FiftyThree co-founder Georg Petschnigg noting that “Over the last seven years, we shaped the very nature of creation on mobile, and with WeTransfer we will expand the focus to the web.” Gordon Willoughby, WeTransfer’s CEO also added, “As WeTransfer continues to expand we remain committed to serving the creative community and providing products that enhance and improve their workflow.
This acquisition expands WeTransfer’s family of obvious creative tools, both on mobile and the web. FiftyThree’s products are beautiful and easy-to-use, and as a business they share a sense of ethics and transparency that resonate with our core values.
