Wanelo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | |
| Type of business | Private |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | San Francisco |
| Founder | Deena Varshavskaya |
| CEO | Deena Varshavskaya |
| Industry | Internet, e-Commerce, Consumer Goods |
| Employees | 33[1] |
| URL | http://wanelo.com |
| Users | 11 million[2] |
| Launched | 2012 |
Wanelo is an e-commerce company headquartered in San Francisco’s SoMa district. It was founded in 2012 by Deena Varshavskaya.[3][4][5]
Deena Varshavskaya founded the company because she felt frustrated by shopping in physical malls and wanted a social media platform that would allow her to see what her friends were buying. In 2010, she hired a web developer to help her create the website, which underwent numerous changes into 2011.[6] The website's name "Wanelo" is a combination of the words "want", "need" and "love".[7]
The company raised $2 million in seed-funding round in March 2012 from investors including Floodgate Capital and First Round Capital.[8][9] In March 2013, Wanelo raised $10 million in funding reportedly raising their valuation to US$100 million.[10] Wanelo 3.0 was launched in 2013.[11]
The company was one of several websites whose user data was hacked and sold by GnosticPlayers in 2019.[12]
Overview
Wanelo is a social platform where users can share and search for items,[13] which they purchase through the retailer's website.[14] The site does not feature any advertisements[15] and is primarily monetized through affiliate marketing.[16] Users can create an account on the site by signing up via email or connecting via Facebook.[17] The site only allows items which are currently available for purchase to be posted.[15]
Wanelo users can post products or follow stores and people.[18][19] Users can also “Save” items others have posted on Wanelo into their own wish lists.[20] Users can also search for products via hashtags, like many other social networks.[18][21] The site's layout, which allows users to save and share images of items, has been compared to Pinterest.[18][19]
Retailers whose products are posted on the website are able to create store pages, which they can organize and manage.[22][23] Some retailers, including Abercrombie & Fitch added cross-functionality with Wanelo to their own online storefronts.[24][25]