Yahoo announced Friday that it has entered an agreement to acquire Polyvore, an e-commerce site that enables shoppers to purchase "what's trending in the style community." The company hopes that the deal will give it a spot to peddle more ads for merchants.
Polyvore allows users to shop for accessories and clothing, but it also includes a social networking feature that permits users to post selections of their desired items, just like what they might do in the equally famous app, Pinterest. Majority of Polyvore's consumers are women whose ages range from 18 to 34, said the company.
Yahoo further mentioned that advertising serves as a key driver of the transaction. Yahoo will merge Polyvore's ads into Gemini, its original ads platform. Polyvore also boasts more than 350 advertisers who are traders, as per PC World.
According to Mashable, specific details regarding the acquisition were unaanounced, but Polyvore had raised about $22 million from investors including Benchmark Capital, Matrix Partners and Goldman Sachs. So, Yahoo very likely gathered up a hefty sum to purchase the site.
Yahoo senior vice president Simon Khalaf stated: "The combination of Yahoo's industry-leading digital content with Polyvore's expertise in community and commerce has outstanding potential."
Polyvore co-founder and CEO Jess Lee declared in a statement that Polyvore's foundation of "empowering people to feel good about their style" will stay the same, but Yahoo's content verticals and myriad properties will also augment in making the site better and bigger.
Polyvore, as per CBS SF Bay Area, is an 8-year-old startup that concentrates on a specific area in linking merchants with consumers scanning for ideas on health, clothing, home decor products and beauty. "Good Housekeeping" magazine previously labeled the service a "fashionista's playground."
Yahoo's acquisition of Polyvore will mix with dozens of other minute deals that have been organized by Marissa Mayer, Yahoo CEO, during the previous years in an effort to boost advertising deals.
It will also serve as a homecoming for three former Yahoo engineers who co-founded Polyvore — Guangwei Yuan, Pasha Sadri and Jianing Hu.
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