NBCUniversal is buying an arts and crafts tutorial site

NBCUniversal is getting into arts and crafts.

The media conglomerate said this week that it's buying Craftsy, a DIY tutorial and art supply site, in what Recode reported to be a $230 million deal.

The Denver-based startup merges media and e-commerce with paywalled courses on everything from watercolor painting to "mastering the art of the pizza," as well as a catalog of crafting kits.

NBC plans to tap Craftsy's contributing instructors to appear on various shows across the company's cable and broadcast channels like Bravo's Top Chef and SyFy's Face Off. The startup will also use its own production studio to create content for the network.

"At its heart, Craftsy is a digital network with its own production studios, which we view as an extension of our own studios," NBCUniversal chair Bonnie Hammer reportedly said in a memo to employees when the deal was announced. "We believe that the interests and passions of our shared audiences naturally align."

Hammer also said that NBCUniversal and parent company Comcast would use their business-wide ad operation to promote the Craftsy brand to a bigger audience.

Craftsy had raised more than $100 million in venture capital funding since its inception in 2010 and boasts 10 million users and more than 1,300 classes.

The company added its retail arm last fall to compete with the likes of Etsy in the $40 billion market for craft supplies.

The acquisition follows a string of NBCUniversal investments in BuzzFeed, Vox Media and Snap Inc.