Dive Brief:
- Hoping to capitalize on the rise in social commerce, Verishop has raised $40 million in a Series B funding round led by Lion Capital, according to details emailed to Retail Dive. The round also included participation from current investors.
- The company plans to use the financing to improve its products and platform capabilities with a focus on supporting independent and up-and-coming brands with their online businesses.
- The company is rolling out a data program that gives brands a detailed analysis of product performance to improve their sales figures. The platform is also developing AI image retouching tools and a streamlined system for returns, per the announcement.
Dive Insight:
Imran Khan, formerly of Snap, and Cate Khan, formerly of the now-defunct Amazon subsidiary Quidsi, founded Verishop in June 2019. As of 2021, the platform had amassed 1 million monthly active users, and currently holds $1.4 billion in inventory and more than 4,000 brands on its platform, according to the company. The platform started with brands like Citizens of Humanity, Joie and RMS Beauty, and it now counts brands like Abercrombie & Fitch, Coach and Lancôme as brand participants, too.
“The number one comment we hear from our shoppers is that they love Verishop because they discover things that cannot be found anywhere else,” CEO Imran Khan said in a statement. “While there has been significant investment in the digital creator economy, there has been little in the way of support for the creators of brands who are building exceptional physical product. Attracting and supporting these independent and emerging brands so they can thrive and keeping our shoppers engaged with the best experience possible is our number one priority.”
As it expands its platform, Verishop has built out more capabilities to improve the experience. In 2020, the company introduced a Verified Shops program, which allowed vetted companies to sell products through the platform and market to shoppers via shoppable content. To participate in the program, brands must pay the company a 10% to 15% commission per sale, depending on the product category. The platform began integrating shoppable content features into its iOS app in July 2020, allowing brands and users to showcase products through shoppable videos and photos.
In addition to shoppable content, Verishop has added other features to improve its shopping app, launched in November 2020, to create a more engaging shopping experience. In December 2020, Verishop unveiled a Shop Party tool, which lets up to five users shop virtually together and see what one another is buying. Last year, the platform released a livestream shopping feature, where customers can connect with experts and brands and browse new products.
As Verishop Integrates new brands and introduces more tools onto its platform, the market for social shopping is predicted to grow. An Accenture report released earlier this year projects that the worldwide social commerce market will reach $1.2 trillion by 2025. Gen Z and millennial shoppers will comprise nearly two-thirds of social commerce spend by 2025, the firm estimates.
