What company created Bitmoji before being acquired by Snap?

The company that created Bitmoji before being acquired by Snap was Bitstrips. Bitstrips began as a Toronto-based company whose service let people make comic strips with customizable cartoon avatars.

The company was founded in 2007 and initially focused on making comic creation accessible to people without drawing skills. Its web service later expanded to Facebook and mobile platforms, where users could place personalized characters into preset scenes, poses, and captions. Bitstrips was also adapted for educational use in schools.

In October 2014, Bitstrips launched Bitmoji as a spin-off app. Instead of building full comic strips, users could create personalized stickers featuring their avatar for use in messaging. That avatar-based format became the part of the business that attracted Snapchat’s interest.

Snapchat announced its acquisition of Bitstrips in 2016 for a reported price of about $100 million. The original Bitstrips comic service was eventually shut down, while Bitmoji was integrated into Snapchat and became a prominent part of Snap’s sticker, chat, and avatar ecosystem. Bitstrips is the company name; Bitmoji is the avatar product.