Moe Izdanie, a Russian print-on-demand startup that launched less than one year ago under the Albooka brand, has announced plans to expand to EU countries through a partnership with DigiFoto, a leading German photo service company.
Albooka mixes social networking, online editing, and print-on-demand services. Users can layout and edit virtual books and photo albums free of charge. They can then share, discuss, and rate these books and photo albums through social networks. Users may also order hard copies of their creations.
The startup claims its audience has grown from 5,000 in early 2012 to 150,000 users today.
Albooka will apply its online marketing approach to European markets, while DigiFoto will ensure print-on-demand operations. The German company currently operates 3,000 sales points in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia and Russia.
“We were planning to expand to countries of the EU, but not earlier than within the next couple of years,” explained an Albooka representative. “We now expect to make our service available to Russian-speaking users across Europe before the end of the year; then, in Q2 2013, we’ll launch the service in several other languages.”
This article was first posted on East-West Digital News, the international resource on Russian digital industries.