Button Pulls In $12M To Build Its On-Demand Service Network

On-demand commerce startup Button, which just launched in October, has now pulled in $12 million to build out its network of on-demand services and its recommendation capabilities, according to VentureBeat.

The Series A round was led by Redpoint Ventures, with participation from Greycroft, DCM, VaynerRSE, Slow Ventures and former NBA commissioner David Stern.

Part of the new funding will be used to expand Button’s current staff of 10, many of whom come from payment processing companies like PayPal, Google Wallet, Braintree and Venmo. The next round of hires will likely be data scientists who will work to improve Button’s recommendation engine.

Button isn’t an on-demand service; it links on-demand services, including its original partner Uber, plus Resy, GlamSquad, WunWun, Drizly, Hello Vino, Zeel and Tablelist. With a few lines of code, mobile app developers can hook in the service so that, for example, booking a dinner reservation will pop up a card on a phone’s screen that gives the user an option to download Uber’s app or book a car.

Button’s partners get paid for driving new business to other on-demand services, and Button takes a cut.

The in-app recommendations are intended to be smart, and with more people working on the engine they should keep getting smarter. “We’ll try to always contextualize where you are and what you’re doing,” said CEO Michael Jaconi. Thus, an order for wine and beer deliveries wouldn’t trigger an offer for an Uber ride, but might connect a user to delivery service WunWun for getting party supplies.

Button also wants to be able to offer users related discounts and deals — say, a $10 coupon for those party supplies. “Your $10 is going to automatically be applied to your transaction,” said Jaconi. Button’s CartAdjust technology will automatically adjust the shopping cart total, so the user won’t have to do additional work like adding a promo code.