Totspot Raises $1.8 Million to Fund Online Expansion Across Mobile Devices
Mountain View, CA, October 9, 2014 (Newswire.com) - Totspot, the premier social marketplace for buying and selling gently loved children’s fashion, announces its $1.8 million in seed funding led by GGV Capital. Currently available as a free app for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, Totspot gives families a way to cash in their kids’ closets and stay on budget while keeping little ones toddler-trendy and fashion-forward. The new financing allows the Company to quickly scale its online presence and support the launch of an Android app, which is expected in Q4 2014.
Launched less than a year ago by entrepreneurs Vijay Ramani and Vikrant Ramteke, Totspot is already used by a national mom-to-mom community, with 65 percent being return shoppers. GGV Capital led the round and Hans Tung, an expert in mobile commerce, will be a Board Observer. Other investors include 500 Startups, Jerry Yang (AME Cloud Ventures), and QueensBridge Venture Partners.
“At GGV, we are betting big on mobile companies especially those that combine commerce and community,” said Hans Tung, managing partner, GGV Capital. “We know moms are a highly engaged and loyal community from past experiences. We are excited to work with inspired entrepreneurs such as Vijay and Vikrant to build a marketplace for mobile moms. This is a marketplace which is expected to triple by 2018, reaching $131 billion in the U.S. alone, and we can see global potential from here onward.”
Totspot solves the age-old challenge every parent faces when outfitting their growing soccer stars and fashionistas – kids grow, clothes don’t. The free app has an intuitive interface designed to be simple and fast. Community members create a user profile and then shop fashions by keyword, size or style. Sellers simply take a picture of an item, upload it along with a brief description and the Totspot platform transforms it into a snappy, Pinterest-like post. Sellers can bundle items by size, style or category. When items sell, Totspot deposits 80 percent of the transaction into the seller’s account and keeps a 20 percent commission. To complete the sale, Totspot sends a prepaid addressed label to the seller to simplify shipping and delivery to the buyer.
“Totspot’s simple and intuitive mobile marketplace is helping moms keep their kids stylish and on-trend while staying smart about spending and leveraging the latest technology to save time and streamline shopping,” said Vijay Ramani, Co-founder and CEO of Totspot. “With this round of funding, Totspot has the financial resources to launch next gen platforms and online channels to be everywhere a mom needs to be, whether multitasking at the office or on the sidelines.”
About Totspot
Totspot was founded in 2014 and is the premier social marketplace for buying and selling gently loved children’s fashion. Totspot solves the age-old challenge every parent faces when outfitting their growing soccer stars and fashionistas – kids grow, clothes don’t. The free app and intuitive interface supports fast and easy mom-to-mom mobile retailing giving families a simple way to cash in their kids’ closets and keep little ones toddler-trendy and fashion-forward. For more information download app or visit us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram
About GGV Capital
GGV Capital is a $2.2 billion multi-stage venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley (Menlo Park, CA) and Shanghai, China. Founded in 2000, the firm leverages a unique operating model – one team investing across the U.S. and China, the two largest economies in the world. GGV portfolio companies include Alibaba Group, athenahealth, AAC Technologies, BlueKai, Buddy Media, Chukong Technologies, Citrus Lane, Domo, Endeca, Flipboard, GrabTaxi, HotelTonight, Houzz, Meilishuo, Nimble Storage, Pandora Media, Percolate, Qunar, SoundCloud, Square, SuccessFactors, Tujia, UCWeb, Wish, Youku-Tudou, YY, Zendesk, and 21Vianet. For more information, visit www.ggvc.com and follow GGV Capital on Twitter: @GGVCapital and WeChat: GGVCapital.
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Ellen Lynch, PDC PR 415.225.2240 or Ellen@pdcpr.net