ShopThing Raises $10M Series A Funding to Scale Live Shopping Across US, Canada

The retail live shopping marketplace raises first institutional round, led by Origin Ventures

TORONTO, March 23, 2022 /CNW/ - ShopThing, a leading live shopping marketplace headquartered in Toronto and New York, announces today it has closed a $10million USD Series A round led by Origin Ventures, with participation from Pritzker Group and Interplay.

Founded in 2018, ShopThing's technology allows its network of shoppers to walk into stores and create a shoppable product with the click of a button, live streaming to audiences of hundreds of thousands and providing seamless purchase and delivery. ShopThing has experienced explosive YoY growth across active users, GMV and top-tier retail partnerships in the luxury category. The team has been at the forefront of the live shopping phenomenon locally, amassing a North American following unlike any other in the retail space among consumers and creators. Hailed as the next evolution in e-commerce by industry analysts, ShopThing's approach in the live shopping space is unique and first-of-a-kind, focusing on short video content in lieu of traditional hours-long live streams.

"Since day one, our approach in this market has been tailored specifically for the North American audience. Live shopping is absolutely what's next for e-commerce, but we fundamentally believe that it will look different in the West," said Maggie Adhami-Boynton, Co-Founder & CEO of ShopThing. "The results speak for themselves and we are thrilled to have the support of the world-class team at Origin Ventures, who bring a wealth of experience across retail, marketplaces and the creator economy, as our Series A lead investor. Together, we have an exciting opportunity to pave the way for live shopping in North America."

"ShopThing sits at the crossroads of the rapidly expanding live shopping market and the evolving creator economy," said Origin Ventures investor Jacquie Marshall Siegmund. "ShopThing allows Digital Natives – Millennials and Gen Z consumers who shop differently than previous generations – to experience and buy from luxury brands on mobile in seconds. Retailers and brands are excited to have live audiences of thousands visiting their brick and mortar locations via ShopThing's shopper network. Origin Ventures is pleased to partner with ShopThing's world-class team and co-investors Pritzker Group and Interplay."

With its first round of institutional funding, ShopThing is gearing up for rapid scale across new categories, markets and product development while continuing to fuel its growth in user adoption, retail partnerships and with the content creator economy.

About ShopThing
Founded in 2018, ShopThing is transforming the way people shop and sell through live video commerce alongside top-tier retail brands, the creator economy and 350,000+ customers across North America. Having taken APAC by storm and hailed the next evolution in e-commerce by industry analysts, ShopThing is bringing the $430 billion gig economy to North America with its unique and first-of-a-kind short video live shopping approach. In March 2021, ShopThing launched its Marketplace App to an unprecedented waitlist, the largest in North America's live shopping history. Even more impressively, ShopThing boasts the largest social commerce audience of any live shopping marketplace - globally.

About Origin Ventures
Origin Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that partners with elite founding teams to build disruptive companies in the Digital Native Economy. The firm has backed market leading software and marketplace companies like Grubhub GRUB, Cameo, Fountain, Tock SQSP, Tovala, 15Five, BacklotCars KAR, and many others.  The team is composed of former founders, operators and engineers. Origin Ventures has offices in all four continental U.S. time zones, investing in the U.S. and Canada. 

SOURCE ShopThing