Flip, a social commerce startup, combines live commerce mobile apps and real customer reviews to enhance the buying experience. The $28 million Series A led Streamlined Ventures funding closed today at the Los Angeles-based company.
After emigrating from Iraq, Nooruldeen Noor Agha founded Flip in 2019. He was a former resident of Dubai, where he had built a few companies in the ecommerce space.
He realized while leading companies that commerce's vision was flawed and that people have a fractured path to purchasing: People may begin on social media and then move on to video platforms before finally completing the purchase on another site.
Agha believes that the future of ecommerce will be determined by the experience of shoppers with social media. Flip is bringing all those experiences together in one app. It also includes user-generated reviews as well as live shopping for beauty, health, and wellness brands. Agha explained to TechCrunch that the app also offers same-day shipping and back end logistics. Users can post video reviews about their purchases to see real-time data and receive commissions for sales that result from them.
It's more than a social platform. It offers the best post-purchase shipping, rewards and returns, all in just two clicks. Our app is like TikTok with Amazon.
Mubadala Capital Ventures joined Streamlined Ventures for the latest round. BDMI, BDMI, and a group early backers, angel investors, and BDMI are also joining Streamlined Ventures. Ruby Lu, who was an early investor in Kuaishou (China's most popular social commerce platform), is also joining Streamlined Ventures. Agha stated that Flip has raised $31.5million, including a seed from two years ago.
He plans to use the funding to grow the company and the creator ecosystem. Additionally, he will expand the end-toend logistics section of the platform.
McKinsey estimates that live commerce began in China. The market was valued at $171 billion in 2020. By 2022, it will be worth $423 billion. The U.S. live commerce market, which is expected to reach $11 Billion by 2021, is still behind.
Flip now signs 20 brands per week on average and has partnerships with Unilever, Coty and other companies. Agha anticipates that 500 brands will be signed by the company this holiday season. Agha also reported that the company has 1,000,000 downloads and that it placed 30,000 orders in the quarter just ended. Agha expects this number to double in the coming months.
He explained that we were deliberately hiding so we could finish building everything. Instead of promoting growth, we focused on onboarding brands. However, we are expecting a grand launch towards the end of September.
Ullas Naik is the founder and general partner at Streamlined Ventures. He was also one of the initial investors in DoorDash.
He said that commerce has changed in a meaningful manner over the past two decades. The shift in spend from retail to online has been significant, and the quality of the customer experience has improved. Similar models have been seen in other countries, especially in China, where they have enjoyed great success.
Naik stated that live commerce and social networking are the most intriguing aspects of enhancing shopping experiences. Noor told me that he would start with cosmetics and beauty products. I was impressed by his vision and wanted to see him in other categories. He is creating an amazing experience with what he's doing on the backend, including the logistics. I am curious to see what else he can do.
