Zappli, the San Francisco-based maker of iPhone shopping application myShopanion, has raised a $500,000 seed round to fund its plans to take the lead against a horde of social shopping competitors.
Chief executive Philippe Suchet said one of his main goals with the round was to bring in e-commerce experts, which is why the investors include Maynard Webb, the former chief operating officer of eBay and now the CEO of LiveOps, as well as 500 Startups, the fund from former PayPal director of marketing Dave McClure (now a well-known angel investor).
The company launched at the DEMO conference co-produced by VentureBeat in September, and it also won the &''most promising startups&'' panel judged by venture capitalists at the Web 2.0 summit last week.
With myShopanion, users can scan product barcodes, read reviews, and ask for friends&' feedback on Facebook and Twitter.
It&'s not the only social shopping startup to emerge this fall. The TechCrunch Disrupt conference alone saw the launch of both Snapdragon and CheckPoints, two applications that allow users to &''check in&'' to different products.
Suchet said myShopanion is &''the first and most advanced player in this space,&'' with its integration into multiple social networks, its instant feedback feature, plus the ability to discover new products by seeing what your friends have been scanning and searching for. He also said that it&'s built with an emphasis on customer choice &8212' for example it allows users to either scan a barcode, take a picture of the product, or just type in the product name.
To that end, Suchet said the company also released an updated version of its application today with features like improved product search and improved friend-finding capabilities.
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Companies: 500 Startups, Zappli
People: Dave McClure, Maynard Webb, Philippe Suchet
Companies: 500 Startups, Zappli
People: Dave McClure, Maynard Webb, Philippe Suchet
Anthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.
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