One of the great survivors of publishing technology, Monotype has just put a virtual sticker on its future with the US$12 million acquisition of Swyft Media.

The New York mobile marketing start-up's small team will be moving across town to join the purchaser, Monotype Imaging Holdings which these days is a is a Delaware corporation based in Woburn, Massachusetts, with the copyrights of the woprld's best known typefaces.

Swyft, which used to be known as TextPride has produced stickers for soccer clubs such as Tottenham Hotspur and movies like Kill Bill for Miramax Films, selling them on to messaging apps. Its branded content and custom digital stickers - swapped between friends using messaging apps - have been used by the world's largest brands including Sony and Hearst.

Under the deal, Monotype is paying US$12 million for Swyft, with a provision to pay shareholders another $15 million according to performance to 2017. Funded by a $1 million round in 2013, it is expected to report revenue of $3 million for 2014.

Monotype chief executive Doug Shaw says the acquisition gives "a significant opportunity to move down market" serving explosive growth driven by millennials wanting to express themselves "and our fonts an important part of that self-expression".

In a blog post, the Swyft team say that with Monotype's resources they will be "charging ahead full-steam".

"Over the past few months, we've realised that although fonts and stickers may be different types of media, Swyft and Monotype's businesses are actually very similar," says the post.

"We'll continue on our mission to license global, iconic brand imagery for use throughout the world on mobile apps and other platforms, and to provide the best native ad network on mobile."

Monotype made its name in the last days of the nineteenth century with a keyboard-operated machine which cast individual letterpress characters in hot metal - a lead/tin/antimony alloy (don't believe the Wikipedia nonsense about "punching out metal types from cold strips of metal"). Along the way, it designed or acquired some of the most widely used typeface designs, including Helvetica and Times New Roman, which have secured its future.

Pictured: The Swyft team will be moving in with Monotype

Left: A Monotype caster