Facebook has bought Giphy, popularly known as the “Google for GIFs,” as announced by the company in a statement. The great platform and its collection of animated images will become part of the Facebook family, after the purchase agreement worth $ 400 million, according to Axios.

According to sources close to the agreement, the two companies started negotiations before the pandemic, but what was initially focused as a partnership has ended up becoming an acquisition.

Giphy was founded in 2013 by Alex Chung and Jace Cooke. With more than 700 million active users and more than 10 billion GIFs sent daily, the platform will be the newest member of the Facebook family, additionally made up of other services such as WhatsApp or Instagram.

Giphy will be integrated as part of the Instagram team and according to the company, the intention is to integrate the search for GIFs on Instagram. Mark Zuckerberg’s company explains that 50% of Giphy’s traffic already comes from Facebook apps and Instagram alone accounted for half. Users will be able to join Instagram and Giphy in the future to be able to share GIFs and stickers, both in stories and in direct messages.

The GIF platform will continue to operate its library and both users and developers using its API will be able to continue using GIFs.

According to Giphy’s latest valuation in 2016, the GIF platform was worth $ 600 million.