VaynerMedia Leads $3.2M Seed Investment in Mobile Video Shopping Network MikMak
MikMak, an iOS app that allows users to watch mobile video commercials and instantly buy the promoted products, announced today that it has raised $3.2 million in seed financing. The round was led by VaynerMedia, a social media agency co-founded by Internet personality Gary Vaynerchuk, who will join MikMak’s Board. SLOW Ventures, UTA Ventures, BRaVe Ventures and MX Investments also participated.
MikMak was founded in May, 2015, by Rachel Tipograph, previously global director of digital and social content at Gap. Tipograph felt traditional TV commercials were boringly long, so MikMak presents merchandise in bite-sized videos lasting no longer than 30 seconds. MikMak also makes its videos funny and entertaining by hiring comedians and actors to demonstrate products with quirky gestures and upbeat music. The company does all of its own production and charges commissions on products sold through its platform.
MikMak offers diverse products ranging from beauty and tech gadgets to kitchenware and accessories, all priced under $100. The startup’s model of merging social video and mobile shopping targets millennials, a generation uniquely open to seeing shopping as entertainment.
Tipograph was a winner of the 2015 L’Oréal USA Women in Digital (WID) award, a program that honors female technology entrepreneurs. MikMak has worked with such big consumer companies as General Electric, Mondelez, and American Express.
