Design2Launch Inc., whose software helps advertisers improve their digital workflow, agreed to an acquisition offer by Eastman Kodak Co.
Rochester, N.Y.-based Kodak did not immediately disclose what it paid for Design2Launch (D2L). Kodak is adding the company to its graphic communications group, which has an office in Norwalk that focuses on prepress products. The deal comes a year after the companies announced a marketing partnership.
Founded in 2000 by siblings Alison Malloy and Ron Malloy, Stamford-based D2L”™s initial backers included 1to1 Venture Partners L.L.C. of Stamford and Endeavor Capital Management of Westport.
Alison Malloy is now the company”™s CEO, replacing early CEO Scott Corzine. Malloy was previously an employee of Fairfield-based General Electric Co., most recently serving as chief financial officer of The NBC Experience Store located at the Rockefeller Center headquarters of GE subsidiary NBC Universal.
D2LӪs software is used in marketing campaigns to manage and track the use of digital files such as advertising, graphics, labels, inserts and packaging. Clients have included Est̩e Lauder and Pernod Ricard USA.
Both Design2Launch and Kodak use the phrase “graphic lifecycle management” to describe such a process, an offshoot of product lifecycle management (PLM) software design engineers use to track product designs over time.
Kodak”™s Prinergy Workflow System is used by more than 40,000 graphic design shops, and in February Kodak revealed a new Kodak Colorflow system that standardizes color output between monitors, scanners, printers and presses.
Kodak has not had a significant acquisition since 2005 when it spent $954 million to add Creo Inc.”™s prepress and workflow system to its graphic communications division. The unit had $3.6 billion in revenue last year, up 3 percent from 2006.
