VENLO, Netherlands, Jan. 25, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vistaprint N.V. (Nasdaq:VPRT), the company that provides high-impact personalized products and services for small businesses and the home, today announced it has acquired Soft Sight, Inc., a small, privately held company based in Endicott, NY, USA, in an all-cash transaction for $6.5 million. The acquisition was completed on December 30, 2009 and will enable Vistaprint to deliver custom-embroidered products to its small business and consumer customers.
Soft Sight has developed a sophisticated software capability for automatically rendering stitch patterns from custom designs uploaded to its website. Soft Sight's innovative and patented automation systems enable an end-user's embroidery artwork to be uploaded and embroidery designs to be instantly previewed and modified online. This drives its ability to provide high-quality custom embroidered products in low quantities at low prices.
"We are excited about this acquisition," said Robert Keane, Vistaprint's chief executive officer. "This was a capability that Vistaprint was interested in developing, and by acquiring Soft Sight, we will be able to get to market faster than we could have by developing the software on our own. In fact, we believe that by combining Soft Sight's embroidery capability and expertise with Vistaprint's powerful content matching, direct marketing expertise, and large global customer base, we have the potential over time to become one of the leading global players in low-volume custom embroidery."
Approximately 15 Soft Sight employees have joined Vistaprint, including David Goldman, Soft Sight's chief executive officer, and Nirav Patel, Soft Sight's technology lead.
Vistaprint plans to launch the new embroidered product line to its customer base in the first half of fiscal 2011, and therefore expects no revenue from embroidered products before then. Vistaprint and the Soft Sight team have begun to integrate the Soft Sight technology into Vistaprint's platform for marketing, online graphic design and manufacturing. Vistaprint plans to discuss this acquisition in conjunction with its scheduled earnings announcement on January 28, 2010.
About Vistaprint
Vistaprint N.V. (Nasdaq:VPRT) provides more than eight million small businesses and consumers per year with the easiest way to make an impression at the best price. With a unique business model supported by proprietary technologies, high volume production facilities, and direct marketing expertise, Vistaprint offers a wide variety of products for both small businesses and the home. Options range from business cards, brochures and websites to invitations, thank you notes, calendars and more. A global company, Vistaprint employs more than 1,850 people, operates 20 localized Websites and ships to more than 120 countries around the world. Vistaprint's broad range of products and services are easy to access online, 24 hours a day, at www.vistaprint.com, and are satisfaction guaranteed.
Vistaprint and the Vistaprint logo are trademarks of Vistaprint N.V. or its subsidiaries. All other brand and product names appearing on this announcement may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
This press release contains statements about management's future expectations, plans and prospects of our business that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements concerning the expected growth and development of our business such as the anticipated launch of embroidered products and the effect of the Soft Sight acquisition on our financial results. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors including, but not limited to, our ability to successfully integrate Soft Sight's business, operations and products with our own in a timely or cost-effective manner, our ability to accurately predict the effects of the acquisition on our business and financial results, delays in product development and launch, and other factors that are discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2009, our form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2009, and other documents we periodically file with the SEC.
In addition, the statements in this press release represent our expectations and beliefs as of the date of this press release. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments may cause these expectations and beliefs to change. We specifically disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our expectations or beliefs as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.