Pinterest acquires recipe-sharing network Punchfork

3 Jan 2013

Punchfork CEO Jeff Miller today announced the company’s acquisition by Pinterest. The two-year-old start-up will now join one of the fastest-growing online communities to date.

In January 2012, Pinterest became the fastest site ever to reach over 10m unique visitors and Punchfork is just one of a slew of Pinterest-style websites that tried to follow in its massively successful footsteps. Founded in January 2011, Punchfork focuses on allowing users to share high-quality home cook recipes online in an attractive and easy-to-use format.

“Pinterest is often described as a platform for inspiration, and we feel this aligns perfectly with the goals of Punchfork,” wrote Miller in a statement to the Punchfork community. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to join forces with the Pinterest team in San Francisco.”

Among other things, Pinterest is a base for recipe-sharing, featuring a Food & Drink category and innumerable boards filled with recipes pinned from across the web. Even Ireland’s own home cook hero Donal Skehan has made a name for himself on the online pinboard.

Miller appears to have adopted a ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ attitude to the acquisition. “We believe that a unified destination benefits our users in the long run, and the Punchfork team will focus on contributing to Pinterest as the premier platform for discovering and sharing new recipes and other interests on the web.”

Support for Punchfork will continue for now but pretty soon the site, its mobile apps and its API will be no more.

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com