shopkick, a Palo Alto, CA-based mobile retail startup, has raised $15m in Series B financing.
The round was led by Greylock Partners, with participation from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), Citi Growth Ventures & Innovation Group, and Silicon Valley angel investor SV Angel, led by Ron Conway.
In conjunction with the funding, Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman, co-founder and executive chairman at LinkedIn, and investor in Facebook and Zynga, will join shopkick’ board of directors.
In 2009, the company closed its $5m Series A funding from KPCB’s iFund and Mr. Hoffman.
The funds will be used to further enhance the company’s location-based shopping capabilities and accelerate partnership development in time for the release (this summer) of its mobile retail app, which allows users to improve its shopping experience by turning offline stores into interactive worlds.
As stated by shopkick’s co-founder and CEO, Cyriac Roeding, “The new funding allows us to focus 100 percent of our resources on building an amazing product, expanding our partnerships with retailers and brands, and with all that, help to dramatically improve shopping for consumers in the physical retail world”.
Reid Hoffman added that “shopkick has created an extraordinary model for consumers, retailers and brands where everyone wins.
“shopkick will catapult location technology forward, turning offline stores into interactive worlds, and offering retailers and brands the first marketing vehicle that is entirely performance- and location-based”.
The company has already signed partnerships with blue-chip retailers and brands like Best Buy, Macy’s, Citi, Procter & Gamble and Kraft Foods.
In December 2009, shopkick launched its first mobile app, CauseWorld, which allows users to earn real money just by visiting a store or restaurant, and then donate the value to charity on behalf of sponsors.
FinSMEs
15/07/2010