Who What Wear’s Parent Company Acquires Shopping Startup Wantering

Clique Media Group, the company behind shoppable fashion site Who What Wear, has acquired Canadian startup Wantering.

Clique’s properties (which also include lifestyle site MyDomaine and beauty site Byrdie) already combine editorial content with shoppable links, but the company is planning a bigger move into commerce, starting with a partnership that will see Target selling Who What Wear-branded apparel and accessories.

Clique CEO Katherine Power (who, like her co-founder Hillary Kerr, is a former editor at Elle) said the company will also be adding a shopping section to each of its three sites, and then launch a mobile commerce platform in 2016.

Wantering, meanwhile, allows users to browse products based on what’s trending on social networks and fashion blogs. Power said she first became aware of the company around the time that Clique was closing its $8 million Series B earlier this year. She was interested in Wantering’s technology, including its social listening tools and product feed, because it will allow Clique to include curated recommendations in its commerce efforts with less manual work.

“They were able to automate taste,” Power said — at least to a certain extent, though Clique will still need to employ “a level of human curation.”

The Wantering team will also be joining Clique, with CEO Matt Friesen becoming vice president of research and development.

“Our vision at Wantering has always been to transform the way shoppers search and discover clothes,” Friesen said in an emailed statement. “Clique Media Group shares that vision, and we’re excited to combine their strong editorial voice and ability to build incredible brands with our technology to redefine mobile shopping.”

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.