Floodgate Fund is a venture capital firm that focuses on early stage investments in technology companies. It was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

Floodgate

Abstract Ventures is a sector agnostic venture investor in pre-seed, seed, Series A and B startup companies. It serves as pavers for founders, making vital connections for fundraising, talent, customers, and advice. The firm is a dot connector, counting the world’s most visionary investors, founders, and industry leaders as our allies.

Abstract Ventures

M13 provides strategic counsel and operational expertise to help founders grow their companies. Through Fund II, M13 will expand its focus to emerging technologies driving change in consumer behavior over the next decade.   Founded in 2016 with offices in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco.

Halogen Ventures is a Los Angeles, California-based Venture Capital fund focused on investing in early-stage consumer technology startups with a female on the founding team. Halogen Ventures invests in pre-seed, seed, and series A companies creating groundbreaking technologies and products in the consumer space. It is hands-on and supports founders through their full lifecycle. The firm helps them build their networks, get brand exposure, hire great talent, raise follow-on rounds and find their path to acquisition or IPO.

Halogen Ventures

Shrug Capital is a Venture capital firm that invests in consumer-based startups. Shrug Capital was founded in 2018 and headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Shrug Capital

Backend Capital is an early stage fund focused on investing in brilliant engineers.

Backend Capital

TQ Ventures is an early-stage venture firm led by Andrew Marks and Schuster Tanger. We manage over $1 billion in assets and are currently investing from our $500m Fund III. As generalists, we're agnostic to industry vertical and geography; instead, we're business model-driven and prioritize partnering with extraordinary founders building primarily software businesses. We're proud of the reputation we've earned in the founder community, which has come from our approach to partnership and our differentiated networks and support.

TQ Ventures

Long Journey Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on early and new investments. It was founded in 2019 and is based in San Francisco, California, USA.

Long Journey Ventures

UpHonest Capital is an early-stage, industry-agnostic venture capital firm that partners with companies from pre-seed stage to Series A. The firm invests in entrepreneurs and early-stage startups and then uses its resources to boost value creation through disruptive means.

UpHonest Capital

We are a seed and early-stage venture capital fund actively investing in and supporting founders and their companies through a collaborative, partnership-driven approach. We want to be the first investor you speak with when you are raising your first venture round. We look to lead or play a meaningful role in your syndicate and reserve an equal amount of capital to support our founders as their companies evolve and grow. We invest in mission driven founders who are creating tomorrow's industry defining businesses that make people and work better. We focus on daily-use, vertical applications and platforms that facilitate commerce, collaboration, new forms of ownership, and authentic trusted communities across the Enterprise and Consumer. We are located in Los Angeles and invest in companies throughout Southern California, New York, the Bay Area, and Utah as well as other emerging U.S. Tech regions.

Watertower Ventures

The AET Fund is a venture capital fund specializing in the intersection of entertainment and technology. Through the creation of new entertainment, they aiming to realize a world where people everywhere can find experiences that move them and become happier for it. They support startups that share these values and hope that together and will move their world forward.  AET Fund target investment area covers all forms of entertainment. The fund actively invests in new forms of entertainment such as streaming services, voice assist, the gamification of existing industries and spreads beyond the bounds of conventional categories such as games, music, sports, beauty, and fitness. They openly engage with all businesses that deliver emotional experiences.

AET Fund

Investing in early-stage tech companies with founding teams inclusive of diverse entrepreneurs such as #Women and #PersonsofColour.

Dream Maker Ventures (DMV)

We invest along generational themes from Gen Alpha, Gen Z, Millennials onwards & follow that behavior as it evolves over time. We believe that human behavior is constantly evolving due to generational shifts and technology adoption. Recent historical events have accelerated behavior changes amongst different generational cohorts in very different ways. We bring product, growth, and venture experience to early stage startups that are building solutions to meet these changes.

Progression Fund

Benchmark invests in and works alongside entrepreneurs building startups into transformational companies. They focus on early-stage venture investing in mobile, marketplaces, social, and infrastructure and enterprise software. Founded in 1995, the firm has offices in Woodside and San Francisco, California. The firm has been recognized for its commitment to open source and is noted for creating the first equal ownership and compensation structure for its partners. The five equal general partners who take board seats and a hands-on approach to every entrepreneur and company they back, with no junior investment staff. Current general partners are Chetan Puttagunta, Sarah Tavel, Victor Lazarte, Peter Fenton, and Eric Vishria. Benchmark has had 37 exits since beginning of 2011; 14 IPOs and 23 M&As representing a total market value of more than $60 billion. Benchmark’s current portfolio of early-stage venture investments includes private market leaders such as Uber, Snapchat, Tinder, Stitch Fix, Elastic and Cyanogen; recent IPOs and acquisitions such as Twitter, Instagram, Yelp, League of Legends, Jasper, OpenTable, New Relic, Hortonworks, Amplitude, Confluent, GrubHub, Zendesk and Zillow; and franchise companies from Juniper to eBay to Red Hat.

Benchmark

Access Industries is a privately held industrial group with long-term holdings worldwide, that focuses on natural resources and chemicals, media and telecommunications, real estate and venture capital. Founded in 1986 by Len Blavatnik, an American entrepreneur and philanthropist, Access is an international industrial concern with strategic investments in the United States, Europe and South America. We have corporate offices in New York, London and Moscow. Our holdings include a number of market-leading companies.

Access Industries

SV Angel is a San Francisco-based venture fund. Their experience spans helping companies like Airbnb, Coinbase, Databricks, DoorDash, Faire, Flexport, GitHub, Notion, Pinterest, Snap, Square, and Stripe Scale. Over the last 30 years of investing, their core values of trust, loyalty, and integrity along with a founder-first approach have driven our strategy. They are a service organization, investing in founders who share these values. They support entrepreneurs in building lasting companies by assisting at key inflection points and leveraging networks to help them propel their businesses forward.

SV Angel

We’ve partnered with entrepreneurs globally who have created technology firms with over one trillion dollars of combined market cap to help you grow your business.

Palm Drive Capital

XRM Media is an independent media technology company dedicated to servicing the next generation of Gen-Z and Millennial consumers.  We create content that entertains, inspires, and nurtures communities around the world.  XRM Media develops new platforms and intellectual properties that push the envelope of storytelling, ultimately weaving technology and content closer together for a new generation of viewers and creators.

XRM Media

Mantis is an early-stage fund that invests in consumer tech, media/entertainment, and fintech companies. Mantis VC is a partnership between The Chainsmokers and experienced Venture Capital professionals and entrepreneurs Milan Koch and Jeffrey Evans that focuses on consumer technologies in the areas of Media and Entertainment, Fintech, and Health and Wellness. Founded in 2019, Mantis VC is based in Los Angeles, California.

MANTIS Venture Capital

Popshop Live

Popshop live is a mobile live streaming marketplace where talented individuals can create and host their own shopping channel and sell directly to a global audience. Viewers can interact and shop with the broadcasters in real-time during the streams and access their favorite broadcasters’ storefronts and previous shows anytime.

PopShopLive (also known as Popshop Live or Popshoplive) is a live streaming ecommerce marketplace that allows creators, influencers, and brands to host live selling shows and sell products directly to their followers. In August 2023, CommentSold Technologies, a retail technology company, acquired PopShopLive to enter the direct-to-consumer commerce sector. The acquisition resulted in the launch of "Popshoplive Powered by CS," a revamped version of the platform that leverages CommentSold's ecommerce tools and technology.

Privacy Policy

CommentSold Buys PopshopLive to Launch Creator Commerce Platform

CommentSold Buys Popshop Live

Harnessing the power of social influence to fuel online sales

Social Commerce

PopShopLive

Benchmark-backed Popshop Live, a QVC for Gen Z, lays off 18% of staff after key executives depart and growth stalls

PopShopLive (also known as Popshop Live or Popshoplive) is a live streaming ecommerce marketplace that allows creators, influencers, and brands to host live selling shows and sell products directly to their followers. In August 2023, CommentSold Technologies, a retail technology company, acquired PopShopLive to enter the direct-to-consumer commerce sector. The acquisition resulted in the launch of "Popshoplive Powered by CS," a revamped version of the platform that leverages CommentSold's ecommerce tools and technology.
The platform enables creators to set up their own branded storefronts, market and sell products through live streams, track transactions, and build a customer base. Previously limited to larger businesses, CommentSold's ecommerce capabilities are now accessible to individual creators, solopreneurs, and influencers through the Popshoplive Powered by CS platform.
The platform operates on a commission-based model, charging sellers a 6% commission rate on sales. It provides a streamlined process for creators to launch their live shopping shows.

Hootsuite is a social media management platform that allows users to schedule, publish, monitor, and analyze social media content across multiple networks from a unified dashboard. Its key product offerings include content scheduling tools, social media monitoring and analytics, team collaboration features, social listening capabilities, and integrations with various social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
Hootsuite's core functionality revolves around the ability to streamline social media management processes by centralizing various social media activities into a single platform. Its scheduling tools enable users to plan and queue content for publishing across different social networks, while its monitoring features facilitate tracking brand mentions, competitor activities, and audience engagement. The platform's analytics tools provide insights into social media performance, aiding users in understanding the effectiveness of their social media strategies.
Hootsuite also emphasizes team collaboration by allowing multiple users to access and manage social media accounts, assign roles and permissions, and implement approval workflows for content publishing. Additionally, its social listening capabilities enable users to monitor conversations, trends, and keywords relevant to their brand or industry.
While Hootsuite offers a free trial and a limited free plan, its more advanced features are available through paid subscription plans, with pricing tiers ranging from the Professional plan at USD 99 per month (billed annually) to the Enterprise plan tailored for larger organizations with custom pricing.

Hootsuite

GRIN is a comprehensive influencer marketing platform designed to help brands manage their influencer programs efficiently. It streamlines the entire process, from identifying and recruiting suitable influencers to facilitating product seeding, campaign management, content tracking, and performance reporting. GRIN's key features include a vast creator database, advanced search capabilities, Shopify integration for seamless product fulfillment, automated communication workflows, and robust analytics tools.
GRIN's platform allows brands to discover and connect with influencers across various social media channels, including Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. By leveraging GRIN's extensive database, brands can filter and search for influencers that align with their target audience and campaign goals. The platform's Shopify integration simplifies the process of sending products to influencers, creating trackable links, and generating discount codes.
Once influencers are on board, GRIN enables brands to create and manage campaigns, define deliverables, and automate communication sequences. The platform tracks influencer content, captures user-generated content (UGC), and provides detailed performance metrics, including engagement rates, conversions, and revenue generated. GRIN's reporting capabilities allow brands to analyze the success of their influencer campaigns and make data-driven decisions.
Key customers and partnerships
GRIN has collaborated with notable brands such as MVMT, a luxury watch company, Lume Cube, a specialty lighting brand, tentree, an apparel brand, Darn Good Yarn, Tubby Todd, and Hush Blankets. These partnerships demonstrate GRIN's ability to cater to diverse industries and support businesses in scaling their influencer marketing efforts.

GRIN

Bazaarvoice is a technology company that provides a Social Commerce AI suite, enabling brands to curate and showcase user-generated content across various social media platforms. Its flagship product, the Media Library, serves as a centralized hub for collecting, publishing, and managing social content from customers, influencers, partners, and the brand itself. This tool leverages AI-powered features to sort, tag, and prioritize high-performing media content, streamlining workflow and expediting legal approvals.
The company's Social Commerce AI suite offers a range of solutions to optimize social engagement and drive conversions. It generates on-brand photo captions, surfaces authentic user-generated content aligned with the brand's identity, and identifies top trends and themes for social media strategies. Bazaarvoice's Like2Buy solution allows brands to create shoppable Instagram and TikTok feeds, where visitors can browse products, read posts, and make purchases directly from the social storefront.
Additionally, Bazaarvoice's Showroom feature transforms photos and videos into interactive storefronts, enabling users to discover new products through visually appealing AI-powered experiences. This approach has proven effective, with 46% of Showroom visits converting to ecommerce sessions.
In terms of performance metrics, the company's solutions have demonstrated impressive results. Like2Buy visitors convert to ecommerce sessions at a rate of 59%, and these referred visitors tend to spend more time browsing, view more pages, and have higher average order values compared to average mobile consumers.

Bazaarvoice

NTWRK is a curated live video shopping platform that offers exclusive access to limited-edition products across various categories like sneakers, streetwear, collectibles, and more. It revolutionized the ecommerce industry by combining live streaming with online shopping, creating an engaging and interactive experience for consumers.
NTWRK's platform allows customers to watch live streams hosted by influencers, celebrities, or brand representatives who showcase and discuss the featured products. During these events, viewers can interact through live chat, ask questions, and make purchases seamlessly without leaving the video stream. This innovative approach provides transparency, fosters a sense of community, and creates a sense of urgency and exclusivity around the products on offer.
Since its inception in 2018, NTWRK has partnered with renowned artists, brands, and personalities such as Post Malone, Lewis Hamilton, BLACKPINK, and Takashi Murakami, offering their fans unprecedented access to exclusive collaborations and limited releases. The company has been at the forefront of the live stream shopping industry, which is estimated to reach USD 68 billion in sales by 2026 in the US alone.
In February 2024, NTWRK acquired the popular youth culture media company Complex, marking a significant step in its evolution. By merging Complex's content and reach with NTWRK's ecommerce platform, the combined entity aims to create a comprehensive digital hub for "superfan" culture, encompassing commerce, digital media, and music.
Key customers and partnerships
Through its strategic partnership with Universal Music Group (UMG), NTWRK gained access to industry-leading music labels like Interscope Geffen A&M (IGA) and Capitol Music Group. This collaboration allows NTWRK to deliver exclusive collaborations and cultural experiences directly to passionate music fans, deepening the connection between artists and their audiences.
Notable partnerships include exclusive collaborations with BLACKPINK x Murakami and the Interscope 30th Anniversary vinyl collection, featuring dialogues between visual artists like Damien Hirst, Kehinde Wiley, and Ed Ruscha, and iconic Interscope artists from the past three decades.

NTWRK

ShopShops is a live-shopping platform that allows hosts to showcase and sell products in real-time to viewers through livestreaming. The company primarily focuses on the fashion and lifestyle segment, offering pre-owned luxury and designer brands. ShopShops' business model involves connecting retail brands with creators, referred to as hosts, who can represent and sell the brands' products through live video sessions.
The platform operates as a three-sided marketplace, facilitating the interaction between brands, hosts, and consumers. Brands can hire hosts on an hourly or event basis to showcase their products during live streams, providing a personalized shopping experience to viewers. This approach aims to bridge the gap between traditional retail and ecommerce by replicating an offline shopping experience online.
ShopShops initially launched in China in 2017 and observed consumer behavior similar to the early adoption phase of live shopping in that market. The company entered the US market in 2022, recognizing the growth potential as American consumers become more receptive to this shopping format. ShopShops anticipates that by 2024, major US brands will incorporate live streaming into their marketing strategies, following a similar trajectory to the adoption of platforms like TikTok.
While live shopping in the US is expected to be more segmented across vertical categories compared to China's more centralized platforms, ShopShops believes its focus on the female fashion and lifestyle vertical positions it well for success. The platform aims to expand into other verticals such as home and arts in the future.

ShopShops

Platforms for creating, scheduling, and managing a brand or independent seller’s social media presence. A number of these platforms also provide AI-powered social listening and data analytics tools to gauge customer sentiment.

AI-powered tools for automatically monitoring and responding to customer queries across multiple social media channels.

Platforms for identifying and managing influencers to promote and sell products and services through social media.

Tools typically used by influencers to demonstrate and sell products and services via social media. The solutions are the digital equivalents of live teleshopping programs.

Platforms for curating and displaying customer reviews, recommendations, and product and service feedback on a brand or independent sellers' social media pages and websites.

Tools to create and implement instant shopping features to an image or video advertisement

Increases transparency of the effectiveness of social commerce by providing solutions for attribution and measurement

Relevant for social chatbots segment that uses AI/ML to provide automated responses to customers

Creates virtual assets for Metaverse stores and marketing on metaverse platforms

Social media platforms such as Snap are developing AR solutions for live shopping experiences

PopShopLive

Sources

EDGE Insights

About EDGE

Contact Us

Resources

Area of Focus

Technology Research Made Effortless