Minted

Minted
Private
Industry E-commerce, Crowdsourcing
Founded 2007
Founder Mariam Naficy
Headquarters San Francisco, California, United States
Products Stationery, wall art, home decor, holiday cards, wedding invitations, party decor
Number of employees
 125
Website www.minted.com

Minted is an online marketplace of independent artists and designers. The company crowdsources art and graphic design through monthly challenges. The public votes for the winning entries, and Minted produces the winning work as stationery, wall art, and decor.

History

Minted was founded in April 2007 by Mariam Naficy to sell high-end lines of stationery and adopted a crowdsourcing model when it realized that designs by independent artists were outselling those of established brands.[1] Minted has raised nearly $90 million[2] from investors, including Norwest Venture Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures, Benchmark Capital led by Peter Fenton, IDG Ventures, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman, and Eventbrite Founders Kevin and Julia Hartz.[3][4][5]

In 2012, Minted expanded outside of its core stationery market by launching wall art prints and party decor.

It partnered with Every Mother Counts, a maternal health nonprofit organization led by Christy Turlington Burns, in which a part of the proceeds from selling customized children's art would go to benefit the organization.[6]

Crowdsourcing

Minted holds regular design challenges that are open to artists and designers. Thousands of independent artists participate in the challenges. Visitors to the website vote on the design submissions and the winning designs are sold on the website. The winning artists are paid a cash prize and earn an ongoing commission on sales of their designs.[7]

Awards

In October 2014, Minted was named #5 on LinkedIn's 10 Bay Area startups that are most in demand by local techies.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Mcmahon, Regan (2010-11-14). "Mariam Naficy went from makeup to Minted.com". San Francisco Chronicle.
  2. ↑ Lawler, Ryan. "Crowdsourced Design Marketplace Minted Raises $38M More, Adds Fabrics And Home Decor". TechCrunch.com. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  3. ↑ "Benchmark, Marissa Mayer Put $5.5M In Stationery Design And Retail Site Minted". TechCrunch.
  4. ↑ "Minted Raises $5.5 Million And Tells Us What It's Like To Have Marissa Mayer As An Investor". Business Insider.
  5. ↑ "Stationery Startup Minted Raises $41M for Larger Crowdsourced Design Push". WSJ AllThingsDigital.
  6. ↑ "Minted Expands Beyond Stationery With New Art Print Business". TechCrunch.
  7. ↑ "In 2000, 28-Year-Old Mariam Naficy Sold Her Startup For $110 Million — Will History Repeat Itself?". Business Insider.
  8. ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-leadership/wp/2014/10/01/10-startups-where-everyone-wants-to-work/
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