Backed by Rakuten, ShopChat launches mobile keyboard app with built-in shopping features
PAUL SAWERS@PSAWERS MARCH 16, 2017 4:48 AM
At launch, there are about 60 brands on board, including Sephora, Guess, Foot Locker, Macy’s, GameStop, and PetSmart, though users will generally only see around 20 at any given time. Indeed, ShopChat uses algorithms and “social graph” data to determine which brands and products will show up.
“Our optimization algorithms take a number of implicit and explicit signals into account, ranging from usage patterns, shares, likes, external trend data, and other factors,” ShopChat CEO Zephrin Lasker explained to VentureBeat.
ShopChat quietly launched in the App Store last August, and in the intervening months it has gained around 100,000 beta users through its open invite.
In addition to the formal launch this week, ShopChat has also revealed that it raised $1.25 million from Japanese ecommerce giant Rakuten and a handful of other angel investors from within Silicon Valley and Europe. That Rakuten participated in this round is notable, given that it owns messaging giant Viber. Indeed, a few weeks back, Viber — which claims around 800 million users globally — announced it was introducing a new in-app shopping feature — and we now know that ShopChat’s white-label service is powering it.
venturebeat.com/2017/03/16/...ging-app-with-ecommerce-search/
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