Minted is an online marketplace of premium design goods created by independent artists and designers. The company sources art and design from a community of more than 16,000 independent artists from around the world. Minted offers artists two business models for selling their goods - one in which Minted handles manufacturing and fulfillment and a second where the artists handles manufacturing and fulfillment.
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Marketplace, E-commerce |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Founder | Mariam Naficy |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Products | Art, stationery, home decor |
Number of employees | 375 |
| Website | www.minted.com |
History
editMinted 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 more than $300 million[2] from investors, including T. Rowe Price, Permira, Norwest Venture Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures, Benchmark Capital, Ridge Ventures. Angel investors include former 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. [citation needed]
In 2015, Minted launched home decor. [citation needed]
In 2017, Minted launched wholesale, with national retail partners including Target, West Elm, and Pottery Barn Kids.
In 2021, Minted introduced Direct From Artist, where artists manufacture and fulfill their own products.
Minted 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
editMinted holds regular design challenges that are open to artists and designers. Thousands of independent artists participate in the challenges. More than 2,000 designs are submitted by artists to Minted every week.
Visitors to the website vote on the design submissions to help choose the winning designs that will be sold on the website. Minted's predictive voting algorithms use consumer votes to predict which of the thousands of submissions from the contest will be future bestsellers.
Winning artists are paid a cash prize and earn an ongoing commission on sales of their designs.[7]
Awards
editIn October 2014, Minted was named #5 on LinkedIn's 10 Bay Area startups that are most in demand by local techies.[8]
References
edit- ^ Mcmahon, Regan (2010-11-14). "Mariam Naficy went from makeup to Minted.com". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ Lawler, Ryan (30 October 2014). "Crowdsourced Design Marketplace Minted Raises $38M More, Adds Fabrics And Home Decor". TechCrunch.com. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
- ^ "Benchmark, Marissa Mayer Put $5.5M In Stationery Design And Retail Site Minted". TechCrunch. 15 November 2011.
- ^ "Minted Raises $5.5 Million And Tells Us What It's Like To Have Marissa Mayer As An Investor". Business Insider.
- ^ "Stationery Startup Minted Raises $41M for Larger Crowdsourced Design Push". WSJ AllThingsDigital.
- ^ "Minted Expands Beyond Stationery With New Art Print Business". TechCrunch. 10 May 2012.
- ^ "In 2000, 28-Year-Old Mariam Naficy Sold Her Startup For $110 Million — Will History Repeat Itself?". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2013-05-08.
- ^ "10 startups where everyone wants to work - The Washington Post". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2014-10-02.