Craftsy

Craftsy
Founded April 2010 (2010-04)
Headquarters Denver, Colorado
Parent NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group
Website craftsy.com

Craftsy is an online platform based in Denver, Colorado that delivers crafts education, from quilting and knitting to cake decorating and paper craft, via high-definition interactive video tutorials and downloadable workshops. It also offers community project forums and craft supplies, including independent designer patterns. It was launched by the company Sympoz Inc in July 2011, and within a year Craftsy had attracted over half a million enrollments.[1] On May 10, 2017, NBCUniversal announced that it had acquired Craftsy.[2]

History

Craftsy parent company Sympoz Inc was founded in April 2010 by former eBay executives John Levisay and Josh Scott, Yahoo! exec Andrew Rogers, plus Todd Tobin and Bret Hanna.[3][4] It raised $15 million in an angel round of funding from Access Venture Partners, Foundry Group, Harrison Metal and Tiger Global Management, launching the website just over a year later.[5] By September 2012, the company estimated that an average of 1,600 people a day were signing up for Craftsy courses.[6]

In November 2014, Craftsy raised $50 million in its fourth round of financing, bringing the company's total funding to almost $100 million.[7] NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group agreed to purchase a majority stake in the company from equity firms in May 2017.[8] Catherine Balsam-Schwaber was hired as the general manager Craftsy from her position as chief creative officer at Mattel Creation.[9]

Customer preferences and demographics

The company says that its most popular classes are in quilting, while cake decorating is showing the fastest growth. Craftsy uses social media, such as Facebook to attract new customers, also posting excerpts of classes on YouTube.[6] Nearly all customers are female and 80% are aged over 40.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 "Quilters And Sewers: The Key To Startup Craftsy's Unfettered Growth". Forbes. 2012-04-18. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
  2. ↑ Littleton, Cynthia (10 May 2017). "NBCUniversal Acquires Majority Stake in Craftsy Digital Network". Variety. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  3. ↑ "Tech startup: Sympoz Inc.Colorado Business Magazine | Weisner Media | Denver News |ColoradoBIZ Magazine". Cobizmag.com. 2011-09-01. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
  4. ↑ Rosman, Katherine (2013-01-02). "Made by Hand, Learned Online - WSJ.com". Online.wsj.com. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
  5. ↑ Primack, Dan (2012-04-18). "Craftsy sews up $15 million - The Term Sheet: Fortune's deals blogTerm Sheet". Finance.fortune.cnn.com. Archived from the original on 2013-04-11. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
  6. 1 2 Lauren Indvik (2012-09-04). "How Video Platform Craftsy Is Acquiring 1,600 Paying Students Per Day". Mashable.com. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
  7. ↑ Isaac, Mike. "Craftsy, an E-Learning Site for Makers, Raises $50 Million". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  8. ↑ Littleton, Cynthia (May 10, 2017). "NBCUniversal Acquires Majority Stake in Craftsy Digital Network". Variety. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  9. ↑ Whyte, Alexandra (November 10, 2017). "Mattel CCO Catherine Balsam-Schwaber departs". Kid Screen. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
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