After two acquisitions in the United States, MWM snaps up London startup Picnic

Four months after acquiring Sincerely, a San Francisco-based studio, MWM is strengthening its position in the photo app market by taking over Picnic. The deal allows the French company to expand its ecosystem of consumer mobile applications.

Temps de lecture : 2 minutes

A new external growth move for MWM. The French company has just completed the acquisition of British startup Picnic, which has developed a photo management app. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 2019 by Jack Rogers and Harry Lachenmayer, the London-based company was created to address a very simple need: organizing the thousands of photos that accumulate in your smartphone’s camera roll. A task that can quickly become tedious—and especially frustrating—when done manually.

2 million users, €4 million in revenue

With its solution, Picnic enables users to quickly sort through their photos and rediscover forgotten memories. “Very quickly, we realized that this need went far beyond simple sorting: it also relates to how we rediscover, showcase, and share our memories,” said Jack Rogers, co-founder and CEO of Picnic.

The London startup claims more than 2 million users since its launch on iOS. It is particularly popular among Gen Z (people born in the late 1990s and early 2010s). Now profitable, the company—backed by Stride, Seedcamp, and Angel Invest—reports €4 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR). “Thanks to the MWM platform, Picnic will be able to accelerate even faster and reach tens of millions of users worldwide,” said Jean-Baptiste Hironde, founder and CEO of MWM.

Under the umbrella of the French company, Picnic plans to develop new features to become a social network, drawing inspiration from usage patterns popularized by the app BeReal, acquired by Voodoo for €500 million in 2024. After iOS, Picnic is expected to launch on Android by the end of the year. This expansion should allow the app to reach a much broader user base and increase its revenue to over €7 million by 2026.

Following the acquisitions of Sincerely and Swipewipe

By acquiring the London startup, MWM continues its shopping spree in the photo segment. Just four months ago, the French mobile app publisher acquired California-based studio Sincerely, which developed an app allowing users to write genuine anonymous letters to share their secrets, questions, struggles, or personal stories.

Earlier, in 2024, MWM had also acquired New York startup Swipewipe, which created a photo management app offering AI-powered editing features. Picnic is therefore another building block added to the group. But MWM’s appetite is likely not yet satisfied, and further acquisitions could take place over the course of the year to expand its portfolio of consumer mobile apps.