Evernote swoops for Aussie tech start-up Skitch

Australian tech start-up Skitch has been acquired by US app maker Evernote, barely a year after it launched.

The purchase, for an undisclosed amount, follows in the wake of other local tech companies being fully or partially acquired by US firms, including 99designs and BigCommerce.

Skitch is an app that allows users to grab and crop images, as well as add graphics and text to them, place images in documents and share them with others.

The business was started last year by Melbourne-based entrepreneur Cris Pearson, who spun the idea off another website he founded, Plasq.

Pearson has since built Skitch, along with developers as far afield as Sweden and Austria, to become one of the best-selling apps on the Mac App Store.

Evernote, which provides a leading iPhone app that allows users the opportunity to store photos, web pages and PDFs in one place, says that it will offer Skitch, which previously cost $20, to consumers for free.

An Android version of the app will also be launched. Currently, Skitch operates on the Apple platform.

In a blog post, Skitch says that the “name and soul” of the business will remain. However, Pearson and COO Keith Lang will move from Melbourne to Palo Alto, California, to work more closely with Evernote.

“We’ll be working alongside the great Evernote crew to make Skitch and Evernote work seamlessly together to help you remember and draw attention to all your important stuff,” he blog post says.

“And the development of Skitch will now be able to broaden and flourish like never before, with Evernote know-how and resources allowing Skitch to finally reach all those computers, tablets and phones out there.”

Phil Libin, Evernote’s CEO, adds: “We love Skitch so much that we decided to buy the company. Skitch is an amazing Mac application that’s changed the way people capture, annotate and share images.

“Chief Skitchers, Cris Pearson and Keith Lang are moving from Australia and joining Evernote to lead a significantly expanded Skitch team focused on supercharging the product.

“As Skitch users will attest, this is one of the most innovative, easy-to-use applications available on Mac. We’re going to keep it that way.”