Payvment—Number One E-Commerce Solution on Facebook—Secures $1.5 Million in Funding

BlueRun Ventures Leads Round with Angel Investor Dave McClure

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Payvment, the top Facebook e-commerce solution provider, has announced that it has secured a $1.5 million Series A funding round led by BlueRun Ventures, the respected venture capital firm that originally funded PayPal. Well-known angel Dave McClure has also joined as an individual investor.

“This is the first product that directly connects Facebook to a sale, delivering stronger, more tangible relationships between buyers and sellers.”

Payvment provides a free Facebook application that allows businesses, organizations and individuals to set up virtual storefronts and begin selling to 400 million Facebook users within five minutes. Since the company launched in November, over 20,000 businesses and individuals have started to sell goods on Facebook and over 500,000 Facebook users have shopped for products in stores using the Payvment app.

“Because buying on Facebook is relatively new, sellers just haven’t had the tools they’ve needed to make the most of the Facebook network effect,” said Christian Taylor, CEO of Payvment. “Facebook users want a buying experience that captures what’s truly unique about the Facebook experience. They want to be able to easily find products and brands, use a shopping cart that travels with them across storefronts, and take advantage of discounts sellers can offer to attract their loyalty. Payvment delivers on the promise of the social network, and helps sellers transform a relationship into a sale.”

Payvment's current sellers have been able to increase overall sales Fan/Like actions.

“Payvment has opened up a tremendous world of opportunity for my beauty business,” said Cheri Tracy, founder of cosmetic company, Orglamix. “My goal used to be to drive Facebook users from my Fan page to our Web site to secure a sale, but with Payvment customers can buy and never leave Facebook. My potential market now includes every woman on Facebook and they can easily find my cosmetics by using Payvment’s search tool. In just a few short weeks, Orglamix has doubled our new fans and buyers as a result of implementing Payvment’s new Fan Incentive Pricing. This new feature makes anyone who "Likes" Orglamix's Facebook page eligible for an instant discount on any purchase within the Orglamix Facebook storefront."

BlueRun Ventures is a ten year old, respected venture capital firm with a legacy in mobile and Internet infrastructure and application investments. BlueRun invests in the first round of financing and works closely with entrepreneurs to develop and execute their strategies. Select BlueRun investments include PayPal, Slide, WiderThan, Wavemarket, Fwix and Chomp.

“Payvment is ground breaking in that it instantly takes Facebook from a social network and marketing platform to monetization,” said Jonathan Ebinger, Partner, BlueRun Ventures. “This is the first product that directly connects Facebook to a sale, delivering stronger, more tangible relationships between buyers and sellers.”

Dave McClure is a well-known Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur, startup investor, and blogger. He currently makes independent angel investments. McClure is an investor in over 50 startup companies including, Mint (acquired by Intuit), SlideShare, Twilio and Simply Hired. He has run the Founders Fund seed-stage investment program, including the FF Angel seed fund and Facebook incubator program, fbFund REV. Before joining Founders Fund, Dave spent twenty years as a technology entrepreneur, investor, and executive. He was also an early investor and on the management team for job search engine Simply Hired. Dave also served as Director of Marketing for PayPal, where he launched the PayPal Developer Network.

Payvment is the fastest, easiest way to sell on Facebook. And it’s free to sellers and buyers. Payvment’s one-of-a-kind e-commerce features on Facebook, include:

• Universal shopping cart – shoppers can carry their goods across all Payvment-powered storefronts. For merchants, this feature addresses the serious problem of shopping cart abandonment. Forrester Research estimates that 59 percent of the time online shoppers put items into a shopping cart they fail to complete the transaction. Payvment increases the chance of completing sales, because the item remains in the cart until the customer either removes it or completes the purchase. It even remains in the cart when the user leaves Facebook. The result—items are less likely to be forgotten and abandoned. And Payvment automatically updates product pricing and availability.


• Patent-pending shopping discovery and search tool designed specifically for Facebook e-commerce allows shoppers to carry their goods with them across thousands of Payvment-powered storefronts on Facebook.com. Payvment’s proprietary discovery tool is the only Facebook search feature specifically designed to help users discover retailers and their products. Facebook’s existing search tool was designed for Profile search and not for the unique requirements of e-commerce on Facebook.


• Ability to offer Fan discounts.


• Ability for users to add storefront comments and reviews.

About Payvment

Payvment provides the fastest and easiest way to search, discover, buy and sell merchandise directly within social networks. Payvment allows over 400 million Facebook users to now purchase directly from sellers without leaving Facebook.com. Facebook shoppers “carry” a Payvment virtual shopping cart wherever they go on Facebook. Payvment allows sellers to instantly transform Fan page visitors to purchasers and experiment with a diverse range of promotions and marketing tools customized for social network communities. Payvment was founded in 2009 by Christian Taylor and Joelle Musante, who previously developed social network Fan Web sites for Fortune 500 companies. The company is based in San Francisco, California. Over 500,000 users have shopped using Payvment in the first four months alone. For more information about Payvment, visit them online: http://www.payvment.com or via Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/payvment.

Contacts

Media and Analyst Contact:

K/F Communications for Payvment

Julie Karbo, 415-255-6505

julie@kfcomm.com

or

Alicia Halatsis, 415-255-6512

alicia@kfcomm.com

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