Mertado, the social shopping startup that allows users to find and buy products on Facebook, today launched “Mertado TV”, a new product that will combine lifestyle video content with product selection on the social web. What does that mean? Mertado TV will deliver syndicated content from networks like the Food Network, Fine Living, and Better TV and feature products found in Mertado’s catalog — all via the comfort of Facebook.
According to Mertado Founder and CEO Vijay Chittoor, beta testing of the Mertado TV platform saw shoppers increasing their repeat purchase activity by 250 percent after viewing the integrated video content. As social commerce revenue will grow to $30 billion in revenue by 2015, the CEO said that the integration of the startup’s product catalog with top lifestyle programming should situate them well in a space poised to see hockey stick-type growth.
Attached here you can see a couple examples of Mertado users who interacted with its new TV platform and actually bought something. For privacy, we’ve smudged out the names of the users.
It also helps that the startup is today announcing that it has closed a $2.3 million series A round of financing, led by Rustic Canyon Partners, which was joined by current investors Blumberg Capital and Redpoint Ventures.
“Our mission is to expose a selection of high quality, unique, lifestyle-oriented products for
the home to consumers wherever they spend their time,” said Vijay Chittoor, Founder and
CEO of Mertado. “Combining our product catalogue with leading lifestyle programming on the
leading online community was the logical next step in truly creating a rewarding social shopping
experience—and the numbers prove that it’s a hit.”
Booz & Company estimates that social commerce revenue will reach $30 billion in 2015. To fuel
Mertado’s expansion with Mertado TV, the company also announced that it has closed a $2.3M
Series A funding round. Rustic Canyon Partners joined previous investors Blumberg Capital and
Redpoint Ventures. Bruce Taragin, Managing Director at Blumberg Capital, will be joining the Mertado board of directors as part of the round.
An alumni of the YC spring class of 2010, the startup’s series A funding brings total investment to $3.3 million. Mertado TV is currently available on Mertado.com, with availability on further destinations rolling out soon, including a launch on Press Enterprise’s network next month.
The launch of Mertado TV follows the startup’s recent endeavor to help developers make more money on their social games, by rolling out a virtual storefront that creators can integrate into their apps.
As Jason wrote in his coverage of Mertado’s virtual storefront, “When a user activates the Mertado storefront, they’ll see a widget overlaid on top of the game they’re playing. The whole shopping process, from selecting an item to checking out with a credit card, is done from this widget, so the user never gets kicked off to another page (which is good news for developers, who want them to stay engaged with their game)”.
For more on Mertado TV, visit the site at home here.
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