DeviantArt, for those who have been there lately, is well known as a collection of drawings and prose pieces across a host of styles in both content and construction, but it's also now known as a major investment target thanks to a recent infusion of cash. An SEC (News - Alert) filing details that Autodesk recently put a major investment into the art community, sufficiently major in fact to become DeviantArt's single biggest investor.

 The Autodesk (News - Alert) investment, according to reports, was talked about as far back as September, but with the SEC filing, even the quantity of the investment is known. Autodesk reportedly put fully $10.04 million into DeviantArt, putting it over the top as the biggest investor DeviantArt had.

 DeviantArt's popularity likely had at least something to do with the impressive investment. Founded back in 2000, DeviantArt brings in fully 65 million unique visitors per month, boasts around 29 million registered users (that's up from a reported 27.8 million in September), and receives a hefty 160,000 pieces of art per day (up again from 80,000 pieces in September). That not only makes it one of the leading art communities online, but also one of the outright oldest, and likely a pretty sound investment target for those looking to get a product out in front of a larger community.





 Though it's not quite clear, as yet, how Autodesk and DeviantArt will be working together, the two have some points in common that do seem to allow easier dovetailing. Autodesk offers a variety of software products that are designed toward giving artists a bit of an edge when it comes to creation, like its Pixlr brand and its recent building information modeling (BIM) solution, and putting that kind of software up in front of a community jammed full of artists—though not all of said artists are visual—is the kind of thing that's about like opening up a cheese shop in a city populated entirely by mice. Reports suggest that Autodesk is more interested in seeing the DeviantArt community grow, with an eye on being able to offer useful products to said growing community.

 On a certain level, it's not a bad idea. Granted, $10 million would buy a ton of advertising for products like Autodesk's, but advertising can be blocked out, whether by mechanical means or by simple perception. Investing in the long-term health of a community, though, is a practice likely more endearing to potential users and provides a message that the investor cares about the community in question. This in turn likely makes potential users more receptive to that investor's message; after all, if said investor was willing to put its money where its metaphorical mouth was, that makes the idea that the investor's product line is good for that community ring at least somewhat truer.

 Either way, though, DeviantArt is likely to be around for some time to come, backed up by a healthy investment from a supplier of artist-related goods. Perhaps we're seeing a new sea change in the way companies promote products online with this, but only time will tell if it proves out.