ShopSocially Receives $1.1 Million Series A Financing for Social Shopping
ShopSocially (http://shopsocial.ly), today announced that it has secured $1.1 million in Series A financing led by Valhalla Partners, with additional participation from high profile angels including Raman Khanna, renowned investor and recognized by Forbes Midas List as a top dealmaker; Ashish Gupta, formerly founder of Junglee, a pioneering eCommerce company (acquired by Amazon) and Dharmesh Thakker, successful executive and investor.
Mountain View, CA, October 23, 2010 --(PR.com)-- More than 10,000 product recommendations created by friends on the world's most trusted shopping recommendation engine
ShopSocially (http://shopsocial.ly), today announced that it has secured $1.1 million in Series A financing led by Valhalla Partners, with additional participation from high profile angels including Raman Khanna, renowned investor and recognized by Forbes Midas List as a top dealmaker; Ashish Gupta, formerly founder of Junglee, a pioneering eCommerce company (acquired by Amazon) and Dharmesh Thakker, successful executive and investor.
ShopSocially is a fun and useful site for friends to exchange shopping recommendations and discover new products. More than 10,000 product recommendations have been created by friends in a few short months since the ShopSocially launch. We all naturally trust friend recommendations more than any other form of input - by as much as a factor of 3 according to several research reports. ShopSocially is the first and only social shopping site which allows one to tap into this trusted recommendation engine - that is the circle of friends.
"ShopSocially is playing in a $150 billion e-commerce market with an innovative social shopping platform for consumers to ask their friends for shopping recommendations and pro-actively make product recommendations after a purchase," said Kiran Hebbar, Partner at Valhalla Partners. "We are excited about the investment because ShopSocially operates at the confluence of e-commerce and social marketing, both being multi-billion dollar markets that will continue to create massive opportunities for start-ups."
"While online buying is very easy now, online shopping remains a frustrating experience," said Jai Rawat, CEO and co-founder of ShopSocially. "Spending countless hours researching and passively reading through 100s of anonymous reviews takes all the fun out of shopping. ShopSocially allows you to participate in a shopping conversation with your friends making it easy, fun and of course, trusted."
"Social media is one of the most exciting disruptions for retail since eCommerce. There is no question that online, and perhaps even offline, shopping experiences will be increasingly influenced by social recommendations," said Lauren Freedman, President of the e-tailing group and a 15-year eCommerce industry veteran. "ShopSocially is well positioned to help fuel that transformation."
ShopSocially also revealed some interesting insights into how users want to use Facebook and Twitter only sparingly for shopping related conversations. ShopSocially users opt out of posting their questions and purchases on Facebook or Twitter more than 60% of the time. This shows that users feel more comfortable discussing shopping related topics on a site designed for such conversation rather than on Facebook or Twitter which are really excellent for general purpose exchange.
"I was looking for an easy solution for backing up my computer. With so many options out there, I had spent countless hours researching but could not make up my mind," said Jordan Blake, a user from Dallas, Texas. "After posting my question on ShopSocially, I received several recommendations from friends within hours. They had already done all the research and I found a great solution in no time. What made it so effective was that I could trust these recommendations and ask them additional questions."
About ShopSocially
ShopSocially is a fun and useful social shopping site for friends to give and get shopping advice. We all ask our friends for recommendations, we go out of our way to help them and we like to share our purchases with friends to get their comments. ShopSocially makes it possible to do it all online - with friends around the world! Retailers can also integrate with ShopSocially to harness the tremendous power of social recommendations. ShopSocially helps turn every purchase into a social endorsement driving significant 'friend referred' traffic back to the retailer site.
Founded in November 2009 by successful serial entrepreneurs Jai Rawat and Samir Palnitkar, ShopSocially is a privately held company in Mountain View, CA. For more information, please visit http://shopsocial.ly.
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ShopSocially (http://shopsocial.ly), today announced that it has secured $1.1 million in Series A financing led by Valhalla Partners, with additional participation from high profile angels including Raman Khanna, renowned investor and recognized by Forbes Midas List as a top dealmaker; Ashish Gupta, formerly founder of Junglee, a pioneering eCommerce company (acquired by Amazon) and Dharmesh Thakker, successful executive and investor.
ShopSocially is a fun and useful site for friends to exchange shopping recommendations and discover new products. More than 10,000 product recommendations have been created by friends in a few short months since the ShopSocially launch. We all naturally trust friend recommendations more than any other form of input - by as much as a factor of 3 according to several research reports. ShopSocially is the first and only social shopping site which allows one to tap into this trusted recommendation engine - that is the circle of friends.
"ShopSocially is playing in a $150 billion e-commerce market with an innovative social shopping platform for consumers to ask their friends for shopping recommendations and pro-actively make product recommendations after a purchase," said Kiran Hebbar, Partner at Valhalla Partners. "We are excited about the investment because ShopSocially operates at the confluence of e-commerce and social marketing, both being multi-billion dollar markets that will continue to create massive opportunities for start-ups."
"While online buying is very easy now, online shopping remains a frustrating experience," said Jai Rawat, CEO and co-founder of ShopSocially. "Spending countless hours researching and passively reading through 100s of anonymous reviews takes all the fun out of shopping. ShopSocially allows you to participate in a shopping conversation with your friends making it easy, fun and of course, trusted."
"Social media is one of the most exciting disruptions for retail since eCommerce. There is no question that online, and perhaps even offline, shopping experiences will be increasingly influenced by social recommendations," said Lauren Freedman, President of the e-tailing group and a 15-year eCommerce industry veteran. "ShopSocially is well positioned to help fuel that transformation."
ShopSocially also revealed some interesting insights into how users want to use Facebook and Twitter only sparingly for shopping related conversations. ShopSocially users opt out of posting their questions and purchases on Facebook or Twitter more than 60% of the time. This shows that users feel more comfortable discussing shopping related topics on a site designed for such conversation rather than on Facebook or Twitter which are really excellent for general purpose exchange.
"I was looking for an easy solution for backing up my computer. With so many options out there, I had spent countless hours researching but could not make up my mind," said Jordan Blake, a user from Dallas, Texas. "After posting my question on ShopSocially, I received several recommendations from friends within hours. They had already done all the research and I found a great solution in no time. What made it so effective was that I could trust these recommendations and ask them additional questions."
About ShopSocially
ShopSocially is a fun and useful social shopping site for friends to give and get shopping advice. We all ask our friends for recommendations, we go out of our way to help them and we like to share our purchases with friends to get their comments. ShopSocially makes it possible to do it all online - with friends around the world! Retailers can also integrate with ShopSocially to harness the tremendous power of social recommendations. ShopSocially helps turn every purchase into a social endorsement driving significant 'friend referred' traffic back to the retailer site.
Founded in November 2009 by successful serial entrepreneurs Jai Rawat and Samir Palnitkar, ShopSocially is a privately held company in Mountain View, CA. For more information, please visit http://shopsocial.ly.
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Contact
ShopSocially
Jai Rawat
408-242-4494
http://shopsocial.ly
Jai Rawat
408-242-4494
http://shopsocial.ly
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