I’m a big fan of street style focused-fashion, microblogging sites, like Weardrobe, where anyone can post pictures of their coordinated outfits for others to admire and emulate. Like.com, a visual shopping search engine, has acquired Weardrobe for an undisclosed amount.
Weardrobe is user generated, social platform for personal fashion. It is a place where people can catalog their own clothing and easily browse through the ‘lookbooks’ of other people’s street style. Users can upload photos, tag what they are wearing, and organize these items in a virtual closet to share with others. Weardrobe was also a winner of the 2009 fbFund competition.
Like.com will user its “Likesense” visual search technology to identify the pieces of clothing in a photo on Weardrobe. Like.com will list the items with a link to where visitors can actually purchase the items (with Like.com taking in an affiliate fee from any purchases).
It’s actually a brilliant idea for Like.com to do this and according to Like’s CEO and co-founder Munjal Shah, will only add to the search engine’s growing empire of fashion and shopping related sites. This includes the newly launched Covet.com, which acts a virtual shopper and pseudo stylist. But while the fashion blogging community is a niche space, it is growing quickly. And Weardrobe is an example of high-quality, engaging content that could be attractive to a greater audience.
Like.com, which launched in 2006, is growing steadily both in revenue and networks. The startup raised $32 million in funding during the implosion of the financial industry, with a valuation just north of $100 million. Not too bad for a startup that launched a few years ago.
Congratulations to Suzanne and her team! Are you guys going to move back to SF? Or stay in NYC now?
Thanks!! we’re really excited about the acquisition and what it means for us as a company
we’ll be based in nyc now, so come visit us when you’re in the area!
Congrats Suzanne and Rich!
Congrats Suzanne! Looks like U of C can produce some great entrepreneurs!
Congratulations Suzanne. Great to see a former PrepMe intern and ILC alumnus attaining such success. This is absolutely terrific!
thanks dan! we’re really excited about what this means for us and the company
we’ll be based in ny, so come visit us whenever you’re in the area!
Congrats Suzanne & Rich =)
Okay, so you guys beat me to it. This idea I’ve actually had for a while now. Thought the only other site to resemble this idea was http://www.lookbook.nu
fml.
This looks like just another TC PR sell-out. Exactly what is newsworthy here?
My sentiments exactly, like.com is definitely not worth 100 million, dont know which VC thought so, and this acquisition looks more like an arrangement to stop the acquired company from going under, hence the deal terms are undisclosed.
That’s great news for all of us in this fashion niche. It’s hard to believe that Like & Co. have a $100mm valuation already… there’s definitely money to be made here.
Congrats Suzanne & Rich! You guys deserve it!
It’s news worthy because Like.com is one of the few companies 9 figure valuation range that was spawned in the last few years and Weardrobe is an fbfund company.
I appreciate stories on TC that are not about Twitter, Facebook, Google, or Apple. Silicon Valley is a big place with lots of companies doing interesting things. There should be more stories like this.
9 figures hmm..that was before the recession.. let munjal try raising cash now….my guess is though the valuation is 100 million, the VC money raised had big multiple of preferred shares…
btw have u ever tried the “visual” search feature, it just sucks, no real technology to speak of here. moreover their traffic has taken a huge hit after they stopped running their ads on facebook, so it is not worth 9 figures..
Hi! Suzanne,
Congratulations! Haven’t seen you for a while. Are you guys based in New York these days?!
Meng
Founder, ShoppingNotes.com
So so so happy and proud of Suzanne and Rich! Congratulations.
congrats, Suzanne and Rich!
Hmmm..that’s great! Congrats guys!
beside lookbook.nu there are also other fashion communities like chictopia.com or fashionfreax.net – so what is actually the advantage of weardrobe?
The only “empire” Like.com has is one of swindled investors. First off the amount was ~$20MM (not $32MM) it occurred in July/Aug of 2008 (not at the height of the financial industry implosion) and I guarantee you those investors regret on a daily basis getting sweet-talked (yet again) by Munjal. The company has no real technology to speak of nor any sustainable biz model. I’m shocked they are even still in business.
This is not a news story at all.