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Fintech startup Klarna taps Permira for around $250M at $2.5B valuation
Klarna, the Swedish startup that works with e-commerce businesses and retailers to provide financing and other payment services, today announced that it has picked up yet another large investment, its third inside of two months. Permira, the private equity firm and prolific late-stage tech investor, has taken a minimum 10 percent stake in the fintech business. Klarna and Permira are not… Read More
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EBay shares sink after posting financial results
EBay shares were down about 4 percent in initial after-hours trading, after posting second-quarter financial results. But in terms of revenue and earnings per share, the company’s results were in line with expectations. Read More
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Dote raises $7.2 million for its mobile shopping app
While consumers are increasingly turning to Amazon to buy everything from home goods to electronics, a newly launched app called Dote believes there’s an opportunity to compete with the e-commerce giant’s fashion business. Read More
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Sears starts selling Alexa-enabled Kenmore appliances on Amazon in bid for relevance
It’s hard to see this move as anything but a temporary reprieve for the once-mighty Sears brand. The mall mainstay has fallen on hard times in recent decades as online retail has taken over — and now, the company is signing on with Amazon to sell its Kenmore brand through one of the key contributors to that on-going downside. While the move feels a bit defeatist, it’s a… Read More
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Viber acquires Chatter Commerce, the startup behind its shopping keyboard
Messaging app Viber earlier this year made its first foray into shopping services with Instant Shopping, a feature that lets you search for items for sale via a keyboard when you have the messaging app open. Today, the company is announcing some more e-commerce related news: it’s buying the startup that helped build that feature. Viber has acquired Chatter Commerce, maker of a… Read More
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Amazon’s ‘Treasure Truck’ deals program is expanding nationwide
Amazon’s Treasure Truck, the retailer’s deal programs that offers discounts on select items paid for online then picked up in person from an actual truck, is expanding across the U.S. First announced back in 2015 in Seattle, then rolled out the following year, Treasure Truck initially appeared to be some sort of one-off marketing experiment, but its recently granted patent and… Read More
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Amazon Pay Places lets you pay for real-world shopping using your Amazon info, starting with TGI Fridays orders
Amazon is today introducing a new feature called Amazon Pay Places, that allows customers to pay for in-store and order ahead shopping experiences using their Amazon app. That is, instead of using cash, check, credit or debit while shopping out in the real world, you can just use your Amazon account information. The first implementation of Pay Places involves a partnership with the TGI… Read More
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Amazon launches Spark, a shoppable feed of stories and photos aimed at Prime members
Amazon today is launching Amazon Spark, a new feature aimed at improving product discovery, which is seemingly inspired by Instagram and its use of shoppable photos. Similarly, Amazon Spark users are encouraged to post stories, ideas and images of products they love, which others can react to with comments and “smiles” – Amazon’s own version of the Like or Favorite… Read More
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Online art marketplace Artsy raises $50M at $275M valuation to double down on auctions
The market for buying, selling and learning about visual art online is getting a significant boost today. Artsy, the New York startup that has positioned itself as the go-to place for all things arty — a platform for people to learn about visual art online as well as explore opportunities to buy and sell work — has raised $50 million in funding. The company is not disclosing… Read More
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Amazon is already selling some prepared ‘Amazon Meal Kits’
Based just on trademark filings and reported plans, Amazon’s potential entry into the prepared meal kit market has had a significant impact on freshly-IPO’d Blue Apron’s stock price. Now, however, we know that Amazon is actually already testing its own “Amazon Meal Kits,” thanks to a customer in Seattle who has already ordered and prepared one. Seattle resident… Read More
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Syte.ai, a visual search startup just for fashion, closes $8M Series A
Syte.ai, a visual search startup focused on fashion products, announced that it has raised an $8 million Series A. The lead investor is NHN Ventures (the investment arm of Korean internet services giant NHN), with participation from Naver Corp., messaging app Line Corp., Magma VC, Remagine VC, KDC Ventures, and NBM Ventures. Read More
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NewStore raises $50 million for mobile commerce
Demandware founder Stephen Schambach has moved on to his next startup and investors are betting $50 million. NewStore, an enterprise platform for mobile commerce, has raised a Series B from Activant Capital, General Catalyst and Schambach's own money. The company previously raised $40 million since 2015, but just launched the business late last year. While Magento, Shopify and others… Read More
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Trademarks show Amazon has sights on meal-kits, “single cow burgers” and other fast food options
Amazon has made no secret of its ambitions to expand into more fresh food services, from its own, homegrown efforts like AmazonFresh for groceries (first launched in 2013) and Amazon Restaurants for restaurant delivery (first launched in 2014), through to its most recent plan to acquire Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. In fact, the company has its sights set on a number of other culinary areas… Read More
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Is Amazon working on a new messaging app called Anytime?
Messaging apps today are one of the most popular ways consumers communicate today, not just with each other but, increasingly, with businesses and services. Now there are signs that we could see another big player enter the messaging fray, alongside more established services from Facebook, Snapchat, Wechat and more. Amazon appears to be sounding out the market on a new service called Anytime… Read More
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Shopify adding eBay as a sales channel for merchants
Shopify has another sales channel, in addition to its existing avenues including Amazon, Facebook, BuzzFeed, Pinterest and more. The latest addition is eBay, which hosts a large audience of potential customers, giving Shopify store owners one more opportunity to get their wares in front of folks. The new Shopify integration with eBay will include immediate syncing of inventory info… Read More
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Rover raised $65 million for pet sitting
Finding temporary housing for your dog should be as easy as renting an Airbnb. That’s the idea behind Rover, which raised $65 million to expand its pet sitting and dog-walking businesses. The Seattle-based company got a significant vote of confidence from Spark Capital, which is leading the round and additional capital from existing investors including Menlo Ventures, Foundry Group… Read More
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Amazon’s Prime Day was the biggest sales day in its history, up 60% on 2016 led by the Echo
We said yesterday that all signs pointed to Amazon’s Prime Day sales event smashing through its own numbers, and that is exactly what happened: The company today announced that the 30-hour sale was the biggest sales day in the company’s history. Read More
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Echo devices are Amazon Prime Day’s best sellers
Amazon’s decision to deeply discount its voice-powered Echo devices for Prime Day appears to be paying off for the online retailer. Though Prime Day is still underway this afternoon, Amazon has already sold more Echo devices than it did on Prime Day last year, it says. Read More
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With $50 million in funding, Brandless sells everyday essentials for $3 each
Brandless is a new consumer-packaged goods company that is looking to reduce the cost of grocery staples with a direct-to-consumer business model. Led by serial entrepreneurs Tina Sharkey and Ido Leffler, the company is launching with a suite of products priced at $3 each. To fund its launch, the company has raised $50 million from NEA, GV, Redpoint Ventures, Cowboy Ventures and Slow Ventures. Read More
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Kids app maker Toca Boca debuts its first consumer product collection at Target
Toca Boca, a hugely popular kids’ app maker, has grown to over 170 million downloads across its line of 38 apps, which 13 million children use every month. Now, the company is transitioning its brand beyond the digital space to become a maker of real-world products, as well. In an exclusive deal with Target, announced today, Toca Boca will launch its own collection of… Read More
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