Tapiture, a site where users can share content and buy related products, is announcing that it has raised $2.25 million in seed funding.
That amount consists of $1.25 million in new capital, as well as a $1 million convertible note from last year. The funding was led by JUMP Investors, with participation from Barry Sternlicht, Herb Simon, Brad Keywell (Lightbank), Brian Lee, Sam Bakhshandehpour, Dave Leyrer (Boulevard Capital), Happy Walters, Hilary Swank (yes, that Hilary Swank), Dwight Howard, and Amar’e Stoudemire. Jump’s Randall Kaplan, who was also the co-founder of Akamai, is joining the board of directors.
When I first wrote about Tapiture in 2012, it was a “Pinterest for Men” site launched by Resignation Media, the company behind humor site theCHIVE. Since then, however, Tapiture has spun out as an independent company, and it’s not just aimed at men anymore (a point that was emphasized in an email from a company spokesperson).
The site now describes itself as a place to “access millions of your favorite things” and says it has 3 million unique monthly visitors, as well as 100 million monthly pageviews.
“Tapiture’s traffic and revenue growth proves that consumers are looking for a new avenue to discover and share unique content – whether related to personal style, art, design, travel, food, or entertainment,” said CEO John Ellis in the funding release. “This infusion of new capital will allow our team to aggressively pursue our market and merchant expansion efforts as we shape the future of social commerce.”