Member Article

London social commerce startup Shopa secures 'one of largest ever' Series A investments

Social commerce business Shopa has secured one of the largest Series A investments “ever made” in a UK startup led by Octopus Investments and Notion Capital; said to be one of the largest Series A investments “ever made” in a UK start-up

The site, which combines social activity with shopping, London-based Shopa’s technology enables customers to find new brands and products through customer recommendations.

According to Startups.co.uk, the Series A funding, led by Octopus Investments and Notion Capital, totals $11 million.

The major investment is said to enable the ecommerce company, which launched in July 2012, to build on its overseas expansion and launch into China and India after launching in the US recently.

Shopa’s CEO and founder, Peter Janes said: “Combining online shopping with the power of social is the holy grail of ecommerce, yet many brands are failing to fully embrace the value of social in connecting people to their products.

“Shopa has been cleverly built to provide retailers with a global marketplace for reaching millions of customers, as well as providing the perfect platform to hugely amplify noise around their brands and products all over the world.”

Luke Hakes, a member of the Ventures team at Octopus Investments, added: “With its unique focus on social, we are hugely excited about the opportunity that Shopa represents and know it will quickly carve itself a place alongside other heavyweight global retailers.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .