Facebook buys Giphy, plans to integrate it with Instagram

Facebook has acquired Giphy, the provider of a platform for sharing animated GIFs, to boost its family of apps. Giphy will be part of Instagram, also owned by Facebook.

Facebook paid around $400 million for the company, according to Axios—a steep discount to Giphy's most recent valuation, which stood at $600 million following a Series D in 2016, according to PitchBook data. Facebook did not disclose deal terms.

The company previously raised around $150 million from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Lightspeed, Sofina and others, according to PitchBook data.

Facebook and Giphy were already intimately connected, with half of the startup's traffic coming from Facebook-owned apps. The social media giant plans to integrate Giphy more closely with its Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook apps.

Facebook said that the company will continue to host Giphy's library of GIFs and developers will still have access to its API.

The acquisition follows Facebook's blockbuster $5.7 billion stake in India's Jio Platforms last month.