Soldsie
| Private | |
| Industry | Technology |
| Founded | 2012 |
| Founder | Chris Bennett, Arrel Gray |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California |
| Website | http://www.soldsie.com |
Soldsie is an eCommerce startup based in San Francisco, CA. Co-founders Chris Bennett (CEO) and Arrel Gray (CTO) met through the startup community of Silicon Valley in 2011. They officially launched Soldsie in May 2012 at a time when the viability of f-Commerce was still being questioned by the industry. The founders of Soldsie were able to show that Facebook commerce is a viable form of social commerce when it wasn’t just another tab on a retailer's Facebook page for users to click onto.[1]
Their social shopping platform allows businesses to monetize their social media pages through the use of comments,[2] allowing brands to directly sell on Facebook and Instagram. Retailers looking at selling on Facebook or Instagram upload products according to a template that includes price and item description. They can then schedule campaigns, or sales of multiple items, that post at the designated time. Fans register through email and comment 'Sold' to trigger the purchasing process.[3] The process is managed through a backend dashboard that compiles all the comments and then allows retailers to send invoices to buyers.[4] Retailers can also turn on automatic invoices, track customers, and put buyers on a waitlist for out-of-stock items.[5] This process allows businesses to turn their Facebook and Instagram pages into points of sale.[3]
Soldsie raised $1 million for its full seed round. In addition to raising $425,000 from 72 investors through FundersClub, Soldsie also received funding from 500 Startups and e.ventures to close out its seed round.[6] On May 15, 2014 it was announced that Soldsie had raised 4 million for their Series A funding.[7]
As of May 2014, Soldsie has processed over $25 million in transactions,[8] representing an increase of threefold over 2013.[1]
References
- 1 2 Sarah Perez (2014-05-15). "Soldsie, The Service That Lets You Shop Via Facebook And Instagram Comments, Raises $4 Million". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2014-06-15.
- ↑ Sarah Perez (2012-09-20). "A New Take On F-Commerce: Soldsie Lets Retailers Sell Through Facebook Comments". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2014-06-15.
- 1 2 Seth Fiegerman (2012-09-20). "Soldsie Helps Businesses Turn Their Facebook Pages Into Virtual Storefronts". Mashable. Retrieved 2014-06-15.
- ↑ Dylan Love (2012-10-03). "Soldsie Sells Your Stuff On Facebook". Business Insider. Retrieved 2014-06-15.
- ↑ Social Media Influence (2012-09-21). "Soldsie allows retailers to make instant sales within Facebook comments". Socialmediainfluence.com. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
- ↑ Sarah Perez (2013-03-06). "F-Commerce Startup Soldsie Raises $1 Million For Its Facebook Comments-Based Shopping Platform". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2014-06-15.
- ↑ Kia Kokalitcheva (2014-05-15). "Helping you sell stuff through Instagram & Facebook is worth $4M to these investors | VentureBeat | Deals |". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2014-06-15.
- ↑ Gavin O'Malley. "MediaPost Publications Social Commerce Platform Soldsie Raises $4 Million In Funding, Looks To Expand 05/16/2014". MediaPost. Retrieved 2014-06-15.