It was just three months ago
that we first wrote about
ShopLocket, when the startup launched a beta version of their ecommerce platform. It turns out co-founders Katherine Hague and Andrew Louis were onto something with their idea.
It's an embeddable tool that you can add to your website, blog, Facebook page—just about anywhere you might be creating content online—and sell something quickly and easily, without needing to go to a third party site (like eBay) or take on the trouble and expense of setting up a full-fledged online storefront. ShopLocket announced recently that they've closed their first round of seed funding: $1 million from several venture capital groups and private investors.
Hague and Louis's first step, upon learning that financing would be forthcoming: staffing up. When they started, it was just the two of them, plus a paid intern who served as a community manager. They've since added two positions—one business development and one software engineer—and will have a graphic designer joining them in the fall. Louis says they also plan to add some contract positions.
"We get the biggest bang for the buck by using the money to hire people," says Louis, "but now there's also room to start using paid advertising and promotions." Then he adds, intriguingly: "The key is finding ways to make the most of a still pretty limited budget. We can't do TV advertising, but we can spend a bit of money cooking up a promotional stunt."
Louis says it's still early days for startup economy here. "Canada has had some companies do really well, but nothing at the scale of Facebook or PayPal. So generally, [we found fewer] people able to help a startup out at the very early stages, both in terms of early investment or mentorship."
But that's getting better and has been balanced out by the fact that the region remains relatively strong. It's one of the reasons ShopLocket was able to go from beta to financing so quickly, in fact. The company is partly financed by US investors who were "actively looking outside of their own country" for opportunities, and found Canada's stable economy appealing.
Toronto also has "an educated and talented population, and access to large markets" Louis points out—both very useful when you're trying to grow quickly.
Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Andrew Louis, Co-founder, ShopLocket