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Flipagram is looking for a new home.
The LA-based startup, which makes an app that lets users stitch together photos and videos into montages up to a minute long, is shopping itself around in hopes of finding a buyer, according to numerous sources.
Flipagram is approaching the top-tier tech and media companies first, these sources say — folks like Facebook, Google, Twitter and Snapchat. Flipagram is using a banker.
The catalyst for the sale: Growth, or lack of it in Flipagram’s case. The app started as a utility — a way to create cool slideshows that you then shared on other networks, like Facebook or Instagram. That changed about a year ago when Flipagram transitioned into more of a social network and feed similar to what you’d find in other apps, like Instagram.
That approach takes time, of course, but it has gone more slowly than expected, sources say, and Flipagram is having trouble luring people back to the app for anything beyond the creative features it built its reputation on. It hopes an acquisition will help jump-start things on the growth side.
Flipagram’s user base is not small, at least according to Flipagram itself. CEO Farhad Mohit told Recode back in March that it has 36 million monthly active users. Sources say that number is not growing or growing very slowly. (We asked for an updated number, but didn’t get one.)
It’s unclear how much money Flipagram is seeking from a buyer, but it clearly won’t have much leverage. One source familiar with the company said that finding a buyer to pay the company’s most recent valuation — somewhere between $300 million and $400 million after a $70 million funding round last July — would be considered a great outcome.
A company spokesperson declined to comment, as did reps for the other companies we believe Flipagram is reaching out to.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
