Social Beauty Store Bloom.com Closes $5.4M in a Series A Led by Capricorn

OMAHA, Neb., March 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Bloom.com has created a new social commerce model for beauty. Think Facebook meets Match.com meets Zappos. Finally, a place that pulls together a women-to-women platform, unbiased recommendations and best in class customer service. Bloom's data rich approach brings women relevant beauty information including the latest trends, products their friends are using and other discoveries from their "beauty matches".

Bloom.com launched to the public in August 2011 and has been embraced by women around the country, growing to 100,000 members in just six months.

As Bloom.com continues to expand they have recently raised $5.4M in a series A round bringing the total funding to date as $10.9M.  The recent funding was led by Capricorn Investment Group.  Capricorn was represented by its Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer Stephen George, who joins the company's board.  "We are excited to become an investor in Bloom, given the size and nature of the industry and Bloom's creative approach to harness the power of social networking and e-commerce," said George.

Founder and CEO, Julie Mahloch commented on Bloom.com's prospects. "We've had an exciting six months since launch, but from the social activity we are seeing, I expect 2012 growth to be exponential.  We're currently focused on developing our social platform so that women can really see the perfect beauty trends for them develop before their eyes. Our proprietary algorithm allows you to find your 'beauty matches' – other women who have beauty profiles like yours.  It then makes relevant and contextual  'Best4You' recommendations based on what products worked best. We feel that Bloom.com will revolutionize online shopping, making it a much more satisfying, social experience."

David Vana, Bloom.com's Chief Financial Officer described the staff of Xuba – the parent company of Bloom.com as "an outstanding core team of just over 20 dedicated professionals. We expect to grow to around 30-35 people by the end of the 2012 with a particular focus on recruiting the top technology innovators and web developers to work on our cutting edge platform". The team is based in the Hayneedle Building on 93rd and Dodge in Omaha, Hayneedle being one of the other two significant internet retailers that Julie Mahloch has co-founded.

Nick Hudson, Bloom.com's Chief Marketing Officer commented "We are particularly excited about the Best4You recommendations that are driven by the unbiased feedback of women, currently making over 1 million recommendations a month." Best4You is driven by over 50 data points on each member, 50 data points on each product and the ratings and reviews of beauty matches. "The personalization gets smarter over time," Hudson said, "as the network gets larger and as it gathers more social feedback."

Currently, the site features 7,000 products and 150 "top beauty brands" which will expand to more than 250 brands by year's end. The site has been covered in a number of consumer press outlets, including InStyle Magazine, which recently named Bloom.com to its "Best of the Web 2011" list.

About Bloom.com
Bloom.com's mission is that you will NEVER buy the wrong beauty products again.  Through "social beauty" they are able to harness the wisdom and experiences of thousands of women, to provide an unbiased, trusted source for all things beauty.  Using open minded, honest feedback from thousands of women, Bloom.com helps women find the products and information to achieve their most beautiful self.

SOURCE Bloom.com

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