Shopobot Receives Seed Funding From Google Ventures and AOL Ventures to Launch Online Shopping Service

SAN FRANCISCO, June 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Shopobot announced its seed funding today from Google Ventures, AOL Ventures, and several strategic investors. Shopobot also opened its website to the public for the first time, revealing a new approach to online shopping where consumers have immediate access and transparency into price changes offered by online retailers.

Shopobot was formed to reveal the volatility of prices for consumer products sold online, and to help consumers use this information to gain an advantage when making purchases. It is not uncommon for retailers to change their prices several times in the course of a week and these changes can often fluctuate by as much as 20 percent. With Shopobot, consumers gain access to price changes, ultimately saving their dollars.

The company was formed in January when the founders were accepted to the AngelPad accelerator program. After their demo day presentation in March, the team received investments from both Google Ventures and AOL Ventures to grow their project.

"We're huge fans of online shopping, but were shocked when we discovered just how often stores change their prices. We found that stores are becoming extremely sophisticated about testing different price points, and that most shoppers are entirely unaware that these changes are happening," said Julius Schorzman, Co-Founder and CEO of Shopobot.

"People who buy on the wrong day stand to lose a lot of money," added David Matthews, Co-Founder and Head of Product at Shopobot. "For example, if we look at a digital camera that currently sells for $399 at a popular store, we see that its price changed seven times over two weeks. Waiting even a single day to purchase can mean the difference between saving or wasting $30 for a consumer. We want to bring transparency to online shopping so people know when they're seeing a good or bad deal."

In mid-2010, Julius and David began creating Shopobot, building a prototype for the service. Pricing data is continuously collected and analyzed using proprietary algorithms, and users are given simple recommendations on when and where to buy to get the best price.

One of the distinctions of the Shopobot service is the simplicity of the experience. Thomas Korte, the founder of AngelPad noted, "Shopobot has done an amazing job analyzing massive data sets and continuously changing prices, and turned it into a simple and friendly user experience. They solve a hard problem for users and make it simple to decide when to buy something."

The investments from Google Ventures and AOL Ventures were followed by investments from domain expert investors such as Lucas Nealan - an early Facebook engineer, and Jump Ventures, as well as international support from investors introduced through the AngelList network. These investments will allow Shopobot to rapidly expand their service from cameras and consumer electronics, into sports equipment, appliances, and other areas. The company has no plans to charge consumers for the service.

More information can be found at http://www.shopobot.com.

About Google Ventures

Google Ventures is the venture capital arm of Google Inc. We seek to discover and help develop great companies, and believe in the power of entrepreneurs to do amazing things. Our investments range from seed to late stage, across a broad range of industries, including consumer Internet, digital media, software, hardware, and biotechnology. We embrace the challenge of helping young companies grow from the proverbial garage to global relevance. For more information, visit www.googleventures.com.

About AOL Ventures

AOL Ventures is the venture capital arm of AOL, focused on early stage investing in technology-centric consumer Internet companies. http://corp.aol.com/products-services/aol-ventures

About AngelPad

AngelPad is a startup incubator based in San Francisco. Founded in 2010 by a team of ex-Googlers, AngelPad helps web- technology startups build better products, attract additional funding and ultimately grow more successful businesses. http://angelpad.org

SOURCE Shopobot

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