Imagekind, the art site that describes itself as “a hybrid art gallery, photo-sharing service and a print-on-demand service” has been acquired by CafePress for $15-$20 million in cash and stock, according to VentureBeat.

The site, which was launched two years ago, allows artists to upload and sell framed prints of their pieces, and also allows users to purchase one-off prints of their own images. The company’s blog post on the deal says that the site is home to over 50,000 artists, who will now gain increased exposure from CafePress’s 6.5 million members. ImageKind will continue to operate from its existing website and brand.

In January 2007 we heard rumors that Amazon was looking to acquire the company, but a deal never materialized. Instead, the company wound up raising $2.6 Million in funding in February of that year.

Cook also reports that Zazzle, one of CafePress’s largest competitors, was looking to acquire Imagekind as it moves to launch its own custom framing service. Another major player in this space is Art.com.

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When we wrote about Photo printing site ImageKind in February, the company said they were close to announcing a large portal distribution partnership.

Earlier this month a reader suggested to us that the partnership might be with Flickr based on some code that appeared on the ImageKind site that accessed the Flickr API. Today, that reader turned out to be right - Flickr launched integration with ImageKind. Flickr users can now create very high quality framed prints of their photos for themselves, or sell them through an online store. More information on the Flickr partners page where they also show the moo, qoop and Zazzle integrations…

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We reported last month that Seattle-based ImageKind, where artists can upload their work and sell custom framed prints to others, was in acquisition discussions with Amazon. ImageKind competes with Art.com’s new Sistino project - rumor had it that Art.com was also looking at the company late last year for a possible acquisition.

At the time of our post, ImageKind President Kevin Saliba said all discussions were around a financing, not an acquisition (and he only confirmed that he was talking to “large online retailers” and wouldn’t confirm the Amazon discussions specifically). From what we are hearing, the company has closed that round of financing, but Amazon was noticeably absent from the list of investors.

The round was a total of $2.6 million, and included investments from Holtzbrinck Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Erik Blachford (former CEO of Expedia), Tom Hughes, the Samwer Brothers, Nick Hanuaer, and Bill Trimarko.

There are also rumors that ImageKind has closed a deal with a large search portal, and that the partner required ImageKind to do a round of financing to prove itself financially viable over the near term.

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I heard from two independent sources this morning that Amazon, eager to expand their customized product suite after their 2005 acquisition of CustomFlix, is in acquisition discussions with young Seattle-based startup ImageKind.

ImageKind, a 14 person company launched just last August, is a site where artists can upload their work and sell custom framed prints to others. Like CafePress and Zazzle, ImageKind also does a brisk business in one-offs to people who want to upload an image and get a single print. Feedback from the artist community has been very positive about ImageKind to date.

I spoke to the President of ImageKind, Kevin Saliba, who denies the rumor. He says that the company has been in talks with a number of parties around their Series A round of financing, including “large online retailers,” but that the discussions are around an investment, not an acquisition.

ImageKind occupies a niche between current offerings by Art.com and those of Zazzle and CafePress. Art.com is rumored to be soon launching a more customizable product similar to what ImageKind offers today.

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