Scratch Grabs $3.6 Million To Keep Fashion Expertise A Text Away

For the consumers who have an itch to go shopping, but don’t have a ton of time to do so, the days of hiring an assistant are now much more attainable. Scratch — the personal assistant esque mobile shopping app — will soon have those busy consumers covered. Scratch recently announced that it has raised $3.6 million in seed funding in a round led by Bessemer Venture Partners.

Other participants in the round included NextView Ventures, Red Swan Ventures and Blue Apron CEO Matt Salzberg.

Scratch — which launched July 14 as a free, invite-only service — puts the user in touch with its shopping “experts,” who send curated recommendations on preferred shopping categories including home decor, gifts and clothing. Scratch claims to cost as much as a retail store with a “Best Price Promise” scheme that ensures a refund if a user finds a better deal online within 30 days of the purchase. The app also comes with product discovery and specialized curated lists of “interesting” items sent to users within 24 hours of request.

There are a number of similar apps in the market. Some of the recent launches this year include Mallzee, Rately and Remix. As of May this year, Android users had 1.5 million apps to choose from while Apple users had 1.4 million. The fate of these startups are usually decided within the initial couple of years. Some, like Sift, begin with a lot of promise and $2 million in seed funding only to shut shop within 14 months. Then there are others like Pickie, whose team was acquired by RetailMeNot last year.

Depending on who you ask, the market for these apps is either ripe with demand or catering to a very specific demographic. But either way, there’s no denying them the spotlight now. Whether or not all of these apps pick up traction, one can only hope that they contribute toward the growth of a thriving mobile eCommerce ecosystem.

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