Flip lands $60M for social commerce platform

Social commerce platform Flip wants to put a face—and a voice—to online beauty product reviews, in a bid to help shoppers make more informed purchases.

• The company's app connects customers with real shoppers via recorded and live video reviews that give them a sense of how “true to one’s word” the product is.

Why it matters: Retailers are looking to tap into the ever-growing realm of social commerce, wherein brands sell directly to consumers through social media. That market is expected to grow three times faster than traditional e-commerce and reach $1.2 trillion by 2025, according to Accenture.

Driving the news: Flip has raised $60 million in a Series B round, bringing its valuation at roughly $500 million, CEO Noor Agha tells Axios.

• The round was led by growth equity firm WestCap, with existing investors Mubadala Capital and Streamlined Ventures participating.
• The new injection brings its total funding to $95 million.
• Proceeds will finance organic growth as Flip supports its mega brand group partners and builds a platform for emerging brands, Agha says.

How it works: Flip's platform allows customers and brand loyalists to share video reviews of products they have purchased—giving shoppers a more personalized evaluation. “It means that you reviewed something you paid money for,” Agha says.

• Flip, which allows shoppers to purchase directly from its platform, hosts over 500 brands—including Olaplex, Supergoop, Too Faced, Youth to the People, Honest Beauty, Tata Harper and e.l.f. Beauty.
• The company allows shoppers to monetize their purchases by submitting their own reviews. If people watch their content and buy a product, they can make money from it.

The latest: Flip plans to launch a third-party marketplace that will give emerging brands access to the company's shoppers and creators, along with its e-commerce tools.

• The marketplace will monitor what content on the platform is generating more revenue, what people are watching and what they’re connecting to, Agha says.

• The company is also launching a second, fully-operational warehouse that will allow it to serve 80% of the U.S. with two-day delivery, he says. The warehouse and technology is managed and stocked by Flip.
• Flip will add three more warehouses between now and the end of the first quarter of next year.

By the numbers: Flip's users have increased by more than 500% since the beginning of the year and its transactions have grown more than 600%, it says.

• Agha expects that growth to continue in the triple digits on a quarterly basis over the next two quarters.

The intrigue: Flip plans to roll out several partnerships with celebrities and personalities.

Yes, but: Celebs and influencers also need to put their money where their mouth is, Agha says. They need to own their own brands to review them on Flip's platform. "We will never pay an influencer to talk about the product,” he says.