This article was published on August 1, 2012

3 months after launch, e-commerce startup ShopLocket raises $1m from Rho Canada Ventures, Peter Thiel and more


3 months after launch, e-commerce startup ShopLocket raises $1m from Rho Canada Ventures, Peter Thiel and more

ShopLocket has announced the completion of a $1 million seed round that includes investment from Rho Canada Ventures and Peter Thiel.

The company said in a statement that it plans to remain in Toronto and use the funding to “expand its team and accelerate product development.”

Thiel’s investment comes by way of Valar Ventures, which recently invested in business software firm ScriptRock. BDC Venture Capital, Relay Ventures, Extreme Venture Partners and a “handful” of private investors also joined in on the round.

The startup launched a beta version of its e-commerce solution roughly three months ago. It enables the creation of product widgets that can be embedded on websites and blogs. Pricing is a flat 2.5 percent fee per transaction on top of any additional processing fees from payment services like PayPal and Stripe.

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Co-founder and CEO Katherine Hague believes her company, a participant in the first round of the Extreme Startups accelerator in Toronto, will disrupt current digital shopping options.

“E-commerce will no longer be reserved for marketplaces and storefronts. Instead products will find us; on blogs, websites, and in our newsfeeds — just as naturally as the videos and photos we share today,” she said.

Considering that the company’s splash page caught the eye of The Next Web’s Harrison Weber back in April, ShopLocket is, at the very least, raising the bar for e-commerce design.

Image via Flickr / oh_pretty_love

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