Portland social commerce startup Chirpify said today that it is close
to closing on $2 million in venture backing, led by the Seattle firm Voyager
Capital.
Chirpify, which currently employs nine people, says it will use the funds to
double its work force, including "a handful" of sales people.
The company enables financial transactions over Twitter, Facebook and other
social media sites.
For example, country star Tim McGraw offered a copy of a new album over
Facebook, which fans could buy instantly by linking their Chirpify and Facebook
accounts and responding "Buy" to McGraw's posts. Chirpify takes a small percent
from each transaction.
Chirpify says it expects Lil Wayne and Snoop Dogd to begin using the service
shortly.
Voyager led a $1.3 million investment in the company exactly one year ago. It's
one of several "financial technology" startups clustered in Portland, using new
technology to change the way people do business online.
Others include mobile banking startup Simple and digital gift card specialist
Giftango.
Chirpify already has some big competition, notably Twitter itself. Last month,
Twitter partnered with American Express to enable Twitter purchases with an AmEx
card. That service requires that buyers approve their purchase with a confirmation e-mail.
Today's deal extends the strong start to the year for Oregon venture capital.
The state's startups raised more money in the first three months of 2013 than in any first quarter since the dot-com era.
