Facebook quietly acquired video-shopping startup Packagd to bring live video shopping to marketplace

Social network giant Facebook quietly acquired Packagd a small video-shopping startup that offers new mobile shopping experience, according to a report from Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the plans. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition, according to report, will help Facebook build a live shopping feature inside the company’s Marketplace product. The startup has since shutdown its website.

Similar to decades-old home-shopping cable networks, Packagd uses popular YouTube videos to sell merchandise online. Two years ago, Packagd launched unboxed.tv that helps potential consumer discover great products through show curated by experts, including top YouTube talent.

The Unboxed app is geared around shows, programmed in TV-like time slots, to let users discover new products by watching video (they’re streaming from YouTube directly, and include any ads served in them) reviews, as well as interact with hosts and other viewers through a live chat, and then buy products securely via Apple Pay.

Founded in 2017 by KPCB general partner Eric Feng, a serial entrepreneur who has also served as CTO of companies like Hulu and Flipboard, the Menlo Park, California-based Packagd is a series of app that offers new mobile shopping experience. The app curates a wide array of unboxing and product review videos that creators have uploaded to YouTube and puts them together in a way that simulates the same type of live video programming pioneered by the likes of QVC in the ’80s. Since inception, Packagd has raised a total of $7.5M in funding. The startup closed $6 million in Series A funding led by Forerunner Ventures and GV (formerly Google Ventures) back in 2017.