Pinterest has just moved it’s first chess piece in the social media game. It has acquired Punchfork, a recipe discovery and sharing site.
The two and a half year old recipe sharing site was founded by Jeff Miller, who is a software developer and angel investor in Silicon Valley. Prior to starting Punchfork, he was a quantitative hedge fund trader for ten years in New York and Tokyo. Punchfork is basically a Pinterest for cooking, offering home cookers a unique place to gather new ideas and share their own.
Punchfork will continue to operate for a short period of time before Miller shuts down the site, API, and mobile apps so he can make the move over to Pinterest. Punchfork also gave assistance to Evernote’s food app, leaving the company looking for a new API. The price Pinterest paid for the start up is undisclosed.
According to TechCrunch, If Pineterest can buy other discovery sites for a reasonable amount of money, with its $138 million in funding, acquiring the best of these standalone clones could help Pinterest continue to dominate the image board market. Pinterest has been on the fast track to success, inspiring people all over the globe in different categories Since Pinterest’s popularity has taken ship, many clone sites have tried to step up to the plate. Pinterest’s new effort may be to target those sites and keep themselves at the top of the game while acquiring those who can benefit and improve Pinterest.
Here’s the email Miller sent to the Punchfork community:
Dear Punchfork Community,
Today we are excited to share the news that Pinterest has acquired Punchfork!
Since launching in January 2011, our mission at Punchfork has been to help home cooks discover new, high quality recipes and share them with family and friends. It is a mission driven by a belief in the ability of web and mobile platforms to inspire our lives offline–at home, in our communities, and for Punchfork, wherever meals are shared.
To cooking aficionados, Pinterest needs no introduction. It stands as one of the fastest growing online services in history with millions of users, and millions of people use it to find recipes every day. Pinterest is often described as a platform for inspiration, and we feel this aligns perfectly with the goals of Punchfork. We couldn’t be more thrilled to join forces with the Pinterest team in San Francisco.
Initially, support for Punchfork will continue, but we will soon be retiring the Punchfork site, API and mobile apps. We believe that a unified destination benefits our users in the long run, and the Punchfork team will focus on contributing to Pinterest as the premier platform for discovering and sharing new recipes and other interests on the web.
Our sincerest thanks to our community members, friends, and everyone involved with Punchfork since its launch.
See you on Pinterest!
Jeff Miller
CEO, Punchfork
Source: TechCrunch
