About Blurb
Blurb is a Media & Entertainment company based in San Francisco (United States) founded in 2005 by Eileen Gittins, and was acquired by Reischling Press in August 2020. Book publishing software and Saas. Blurb has raised $23.75 million across 4 funding rounds from investors including Canaan, RPI Print and Anthem Venture Partners. The company has 56 employees. Blurb has completed 1 acquisition, including Graphicly. Its chief executive, as recorded, is Eileen Gittins. Its website blurb.com draws about 665 thousand monthly visits. Blurb offers products and services including BookWright, Blurb Bookstore, and PDF To Book. Its focus areas include Book Tech, Self Publishing Platforms, Books and Consumer. Its competitors include Pronoun and AuthorHouse; 1 of its 2 listed competitors has raised funding.
Company details
Blurb was founded in 2005 in San Francisco, United States, as a publishing platform and SaaS provider in the book industry. Designers, authors, photographers, and businesses are enabled to create, publish, share, sell, and distribute photo books, trade books, and magazines through print-on-demand and offset printing. Distribution occurs via Amazon, Blurbs online bookstore, Ingrams catalog to 39,000 retailers, and Apples iBooks Store, supporting over 1.6 million authors worldwide.
- Headquarters San Francisco, United States
- Employees 56
- Founders Eileen Gittins
- Stage Acquired
- SectorsMedia & Entertainment
- Website category Arts and Entertainment
- Website blurb.com
- Social LinkedIn Facebook
- Acquired by Reischling Press (Aug 2020)
- Total Equity Funding$23.75M (USD)
in 4 rounds
- Latest Funding Round$4.7M (USD), Series C
Jan 2012
- InvestorsCanaan
& 2 more
- Employee Count56
- Investments & Acquisitions
- Acquired byReischling Press
(Aug 2020)
Products & Services of Blurb
Blurb offers a comprehensive portfolio of products and services, including BookWright, Blurb Bookstore, and PDF To Book.
Free tool for designing and laying out books and magazines.
Online store for selling and distributing self-published works.
Service to upload and print PDFs as books quickly.
Funding Insights of Blurb
Blurb has successfully raised a total of $23.75M across 4 strategic funding rounds. The most recent funding activity was a Series C round of $4.7 million completed in January 2012. This substantial capital infusion reflects strong investor confidence in the company's business model, growth potential, and market opportunities. The funding enables strategic expansion, product development, market penetration, and operational scaling to drive long-term value creation and competitive advantage.
- Total Funding $23.75M
- Total Rounds 4
- Last Round Series C — $4.7M
- First Round $2.05M
(May 2005)
- Investors Count 2
All 4 funding rounds of Blurb with amounts and investors; the two latest post-money valuations are shown, the rest are part of the premium plan.
| Date | Amount | Transaction Name | Valuation | Lead Investors | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2012 | $4.7M | Series C | – | – | – |
| Oct 2008 | $5M | Series C | – | – | |
| Aug 2006 | $12M | Series B | – | Anthem Venture Partners, Canaan | – |
| May 2005 | $2.05M | Series A | – | – |
3 investors in total: 3 institutional.
Investors in Blurb
Blurb has secured backing from 3 investors, including venture fund investors. Prominent investors backing the company include Canaan, RPI Print and Anthem Venture Partners.
| Investor | Description | Founded Year | Domain | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Early-stage tech startups in Southern California are invested in. | anthemvp.com | Santa Monica, United States | ||
Canaan is recognized as an early-stage venture capital firm. | 1987 | canaan.com | San Francisco, United States | |
Digital printing services for personalized photo products are offered. | 1979 | rpiprint.com | Seattle, United States |
Investor details for Blurb
The complete investor list, round-by-round participation and investor portfolios require an active premium plan.
- Complete investor list
- Round participation
- Investor portfolios
- Co-investor network
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
People of Blurb
24 people are tracked at Blurb (5 in leadership, 19 in team); the tracked headcount is 56.
| Name | Role | Group |
|---|---|---|
Eileen Gittins | Founder & President & CEO | Leadership |
Kenneth Traum | Sr. Director, Human Resources | Leadership |
ROBERT NOWOTNY | President | Leadership |
Pritam Das | Vice President, Product & Design | Leadership |
Deb P. | Design Director | Leadership |
Mozhgan Fotoohi | Artist | Team |
Dakota Brinkert | Designer | Team |
Rod Learmonth | Principal Product Manager | Team |
Jake Pfaff | Product Tech Support | Team |
Padraic Clanfield | Senior Technical Program Manager | Team |
Iris van Alphen | Customer Support Escalation Specialist | Team |
Michael Y. | Senior Training and Development Manager, Operations | Team |
M.Scott Johnson | Visual Artist | Team |
Lisa Mitchell | Author: Lisa Mitchell Weddings, Hair Guide To Extraordinary Weddings | Team |
Larry Melby | RBC Coach and Business Consultant | Team |
Stacey Bristol Lautenslager | Product Designer | Team |
Kara Smith | Senior Marketing Manager | Team |
Olga Cohen | Senior Recruiter | Team |
Thomas M. | DevOps Manager | Team |
Veronica Garcia Giraldo | Operations Associate, Author and Distribution Services | Team |
4 more people are available in the full profile.
Complete people profiles for Blurb
Full employee and board profiles, team structure, tenure and professional contact details require an active premium plan.
- Full employee list
- Team structure
- Board tenure
- Professional contacts
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Investments & Acquisitions by Blurb
Blurb has strategically engaged in corporate development activities, having acquired 1 company. Notable acquisitions include Graphicly.
| Company Name | Description | Domain | Location | Founded | Acquired | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Image-based digital content is converted, distributed, and promoted across marketplaces. | graphicly.com | Boulder, United States | 2009 | May 2014 | •••• |
Complete acquisition details for Blurb
Acquired stakes, deal sources and the complete acquisition history require an active premium plan.
- Acquired stakes
- Deal sources
- Complete history
- Exports
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Timeline of Blurb
5 dated milestones of Blurb across 15 years, from founding to its latest funding, stage changes and deals.
- Founded Blurb is founded.
- Funding First funding round of $2.0M.
- Funding Latest funding round, Series C, of $4.7M.
- Acquisition Acquires Graphicly.
- Exit Acquired by Reischling Press.
Competitors of Blurb
Blurb has 2 listed competitors in our database, 1 of them funded. They include Pronoun and AuthorHouse.
| Company Name | Domain | Founded | HQ Location | Total funding | Employees | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronoun.com | 2009 | New York, United States | $11.25M | A digital book publishing platform | ||
| authorhouse.com | 1997 | Bloomington, United States | 182 | Manuscripts are uploaded for self-publishing and book printing services. |
Detailed competitors of Blurb
The full competitor set, operating metrics and side-by-side benchmarks require an active premium plan.
- Full competitor set
- Operating metrics
- Benchmarks
- Competitive positioning
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Web traffic of Blurb
The website of Blurb (blurb.com) receives about 665.1K visits a month and ranks #58,153 among all websites worldwide, #4,407 in Arts and Entertainment.
- Monthly visits665.1K
▼ 7.3% vs previous month
- Unique visitors326.5K
per month
- Global rank#58,153
among all websites
- Category rank#4,407
Arts and Entertainment · Arts and Entertainment
- Bounce rate42%
- Pages per visit4.6
- Average visit2 min 38 sec
- DevicesDesktop 56% · Mobile 44%
Websites whose visitors overlap most with Blurb. Affinity shows how closely the audiences match.
| Website | Domain | Audience affinity | Monthly visits | Global rank | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
modelsociety.com | modelsociety.com | 100% | #62,403 | – | |
| purpleport.com | 100% | 680.7K | #49,815 | View details | |
| mandy.com | 100% | 847.7K | #66,483 | View details | |
| papermag.com | 100% | 445K | #80,591 | View details | |
harpercollins.com | harpercollins.com | 100% | #53,041 | – | |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
All 40 similar websites and full traffic analytics for Blurb
The complete similar-websites list, audience overlap and engagement analytics require an active premium plan.
- 40 similar websites
- Audience overlap
- Engagement analytics
- Traffic by brand
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Top companies in Photography & Online Media Services
3 companies that operate in the same segment as Blurb (Photography & Online Media Services) in United States, ranked by their profile score on The Company Check.
| Company | Description | Founded | Location | Total funding | Revenue | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AI-powered platform manages marketing creatives and customer journeys. | 1982 | San Jose, California, United States | USD 23.77 B | 30,710 | ||
Royalty-free stock photos, creative images, and vectors are supplied globally. | 1995 | Seattle, Washington, United States | USD 625 M | USD 939.29 M | 1,700 | |
AI-enabled photorealistic 3D capturing technology is provided for e-commerce. | 2021 | San Francisco, California, United States | USD 1.06 B | 497 |
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Frequently Asked Questions about Blurb
Blurb was founded in 2005.
Blurb is headquartered in San Francisco, United States. It is registered at San Francisco, California, United States.
Eileen Gittins is the CEO of Blurb, as recorded in our data. They have also founded this company.
Blurb is a funded company, having raised a total of $23.75M across 4 funding rounds to date. The company's 1st funding round was a Series A of $2.05M, raised on May 2005.
Blurb has 56 employees.
Blurb was founded in 2005 in San Francisco, United States, as a publishing platform and SaaS provider in the book industry. Designers, authors, photographers, and businesses are enabled to create, publish, share, sell, and distribute photo books, trade books, and magazines through print-on-demand and offset printing. Distribution occurs via Amazon, Blurbs online bookstore, Ingrams catalog to 39,000 retailers, and Apples iBooks Store, supporting over 1.6 million authors worldwide.
Blurb's top competitors include Pronoun and AuthorHouse.
Blurb offers BookWright, Blurb Bookstore, and PDF To Book.
Blurb has made 1 acquisition, including Graphicly.
Blurb has 3 investors. Key investors include Canaan, RPI Print, and Anthem Venture Partners.
Yes. Blurb was acquired by Reischling Press in August 2020.
The website of Blurb receives about 665 thousand visits a month and ranks #58,153 among all websites worldwide.