setting the scene
to elevate your wardrobe, you spend time browsing dozens of online stores
you save items by:
cluttering your camera roll with screenshots 📷
leaving tabs open with full shopping carts 🛒
texting yourself links to products 💬
you become overwhelmed by the disorganization and give up on the closet upgrade
this week’s company enables users to save products, interact with friends, and track discounts
in a sentence
Chestr is a social e-commerce platform that enables users to save items from any store in one place
save: users add items to wishlists through the Chrome plugin and mobile browser extension
place: in the app, users sort items, create and share wishlists with friends, and track discounts
bulleted version: similar to how Spotify enables users to save and sort songs from various artists into a playlist, Chestr allows users to save and sort products from various stores into a wishlist 🎵
the basics
industry: e-commerce, retail, browser extension
headquarters: Washington, D.C. 🏛️
year founded: 2022
company size: 2 employees 💼
investors: Neo
amount raised: $625k
business model: b2b, charge brands for data
sponsored by
Sweater Ventures is proud to announce Barnburner, the world’s largest CONSUMER pitch competition.
Imagine Shark Tank meets America’s Got Talent. Founders will compete to pitch on a live stage for a $500k investment from a panel of VCs, filmed in front of a live consumer audience, and premiered globally.
Apply today, as applications for founders close on February 3rd, 2023.
due diligence
what we like
🗣️ market positioning: Chestr operates at the cross-section between social commerce, projected to grow to $80b by 2025, and mobile commerce, which continues to rise in its share of e-commerce sales
📊 a tool for brands: Chestr offers valuable data that will help brands target prospective shoppers before they make purchases
🔁 retention: notifying users on time-sensitive discounts will enable Chestr to build strong retention
potential risks
👣 e-commerce giants: Chestr must compete with fintech (e.g. Klarna), social media (e.g. Pinterest, TikTok), and tech (e.g. Google) players seeking to dominate e-commerce and social shopping
🪙 pre-revenue: while Chestr has an opportunity to charge brands for consumer shopping data, the company must validate, iterate, and test the business model with interested customers to find product-market fit
⏫ scaling customers: browser extensions are difficult to scale, and Chestr must focus on building a unique social shopping experience to create a network effect
weekly cartoon
founder profiles
Besart Çopa (CEO; prev. student @ Georgetown)
Isaac Fung (CTO; prev. student @ Michigan)
comps
why Chestr: with 400+ beta users saving 8,000+ items from 1,000+ stores, Chestr checks out as a tool to improve the digital shopping experience
bulletin board
🔎 outperformer: in November, we covered Superfy, a social search engine powered by AI
Superfy users now average 27 daily minutes on the platform, surpassing Snapchat and on par with Twitter
click here for an intro to the founders
🥁 drum roll, please: next week, we’ll share details about an event we’re co-hosting 🤯
what do you think of Chestr?tell us what you think! |