Pinterest Acquires Hunt and Pext

As Pinterest is moving towards the e-commerce space, it has acquired Hunt and Pext to build out streamlined selling capabilities. The Hunt features a similar format to Pinterest, but lets consumers track down items they covet. On the Hunt, users can post a picture of an item they are looking for, and other users offer shopping suggestions in form of comments. Pext, on the other hand, allows users to turn text messages into memes by connecting them with relevant images as they communicate via text. Given that Pinterest is an image platform, Pext will serve as an interesting communication tool for Pinterest to take its user engagement to the next level. Pinterest is also testing its "buy button" that enables users to quickly purchase items they discover on Pinterest. The acquisition of Hunt and Pext is undoubtedly the next step to more monetization.