Flubit.com, a UK-based online shopping platform that creates private offers on products that consumers are ready to buy, are announcing the closure of the first part of their Series A funding.
The round was led by Cocoon Wealth, at a valuation of nearly $50m.
The company has also partnered with Barclaycard to create a new digital marketplace for UK retailers.
Founded in 2012 by Bertie Stephens and Adel Louertatani, Flubit is a shopping platform where customers can get bespoke prices on items they were planning to buy. Users who have found the cheapest price online for a product (e.g. a tv set), can go to Flubit, which negotiates deals with a wealth of smaller UK retailers for an even better price.
For independent UK retailers, who can sign up to WeFlubit.com, it means a chance to rival the monopolizers seen that currently 80% of online transactions go through just 15 web stores.
The partnership means Barclays will use Flubit’s technology for Barclaycard customers (over 35 million people) for its bespoke offers service later this year.
Barclaycard’s bespoke offers, launched in May 2013, currently has 1 million active users and Barclaycard has 35 million customers and 300k merchants, offering significant potential for success and growth.