Typeface company Monotype Imaging has bought mobile marketing firm Swyft Media for a figure in the region of $12m (£8m), with an additional $15m achievable through an earn-out. Swyft Media’s 10 employees, including co-founders Evan Wray and Sean O’Brien, will move into Monotype’s office in New York City.

Swyft Media delivers branded content such as digital stickers and emoticons to mobile users within messaging apps such as BBM, BAND, Kik, Kakao Talk, Renren, TextPlus and Viber. The brand effectively sponsors the stickers and emoticons, enabling mobile users to use them in their messages. Following the deal, Monotype says it plans to add some of its font collections to Swyft’s inventory.

Swyft has developed sticker campaigns for brands including Sony, MGM, SEGA and Dreamworks. According to research from Business Intelligence, at the end of 2014, nearly 2bn people worldwide were using mobile messaging apps. Monotype plans to add some of its fonts to the Swyft inventory.

Swyft also operates a retail channel, which allows consumers to personalize texts with authentic, branded content like stickers, emoticons and themes. While users benefit from creative ways to express themselves brands benefit from reaching millions of consumers and monetizing branded content that people want to use and share with their friends. Branded digital stickers, for example, are becoming an important revenue stream for messaging apps, where users share the stickers with friends while texting.

“The acquisition provides us with a significant opportunity to move down market and serve the explosive numbers of consumers across the globe who are hungry for new and unique ways to express themselves in messaging apps – with millennials at the heart of that movement and our fonts an important part of that self-expression,” said Monotype president and CEO, Doug Shaw. “Swyft Media’s expertise and proven success helping brands and advertisers connect and engage with consumers in ways that deliver immediate results were very appealing to Monotype, as we look at new ways to grow our business.”