More companies are stepping up their efforts in transforming local commerce, but startup MyTime aims to be an “Amazon for local services” with an online booking platform for a broad range of services.
Zaarly, a peer-to-peer marketplace, has opened its new Storefronts feature in New York, giving creative local residents a chance to boost growing their businesses and professionalize their hobbies. The new feature launched in San Francisco earlier this month and is expanding to other U.S. cities.
With the launch of its new Storefronts feature, peer-to-peer marketplace Zaarly is defining itself as a marketplace of people, not just a marketplace of goods and services. Zaarly is launching Storefronts in San Francisco but said it will quickly roll out to other U.S. cities.
Treater, a social gifting startup launching Wednesday, wants to use Facebook help people send impromptu, casual gifts to friends. The Washington, DC-based startup is also announcing that it has raised $2.5 million dollars.
Mobile payment start-up Square is working to fill out its menu of services and today it’s revealing new loyalty, inventory, analytics and discovery tools for Square Register and Pay with Square, helping Square appeal to a wider number of merchants.
SignPost, a New York start-up, that helps craft online marketing campaigns for local businesses is getting more money to expand its efforts. Spark Capital is leading a $3.75 million Series A round in the three-year-old company.
Facebook confirmed that it has acquired customer loyalty service Tagtile, which helps merchants distribute rewards, offers and coupons to in-store customers via their phones. The deal follows the acquisition of Instragram this week and it shows that Facebook is looking at shoring up its mobile needs.
The future of location-based services is in commerce, payments and deals, said Sam Altman, founder of Loopt. He just sold his startup to pre-paid card provider Green Dot and is working on mobile payment products. That’s where he said location will have the biggest impact.
Kapture, a new start-up from an original member of Qwiki, lets business reward users for sharing pictures about their establishment through their social networks. It allows merchants to leverage user generated content to help spread the word about their businesses and strengthen their relationships with consumers.
Mobile shopping reward app Shopkick is realizing its full potential by tying into Visa’s payment processing network, helping close the loop on transactions and providing new incentives for users to make purchases. Users will now get rewarded not just for visiting a store but buying products.
