Peoople, the application to discover recommendations of anything you need raises €500,000 from business angels and a private fund as part of €2 million deal that is in negotiations.
With this €500,000 investment, which will close at €2 million next January, the Spanish startup seeks to accelerate growth, expand to the US, and refine its product.
The €500,000 was raised from investors and business angels such as BlaBlaCar Co-Founder Vincent Rosso, who is one of the most active business angels in Spain (On Truck, Social Car, Lingo Kids, Goi); IGG European Manager Enric Cabestany; Tanny Kindelán; and private fund Seed CDC.
With this investment, Peoople wants to accelerate the uptake of users who are already quick to establish themselves in the United States before the end of 2018.
Founded by David Pena and Gonzalo Recio, the Spanish startup’s objective is twofold: to thoroughly cover the areas where it already has a presence as a platform of recommendations that includes books and lifestyle, and to enter into new areas where the influencer-follower relationship is very active, such as the gamer and sports world .
Currently Peoople has influencers from different sectors that catalog their products on the platform through thematic collections that help the user to find what they are looking for.
Some of the most followed influencers include María Pombo, Marta Pombo, Corina Randazzo, Marta Lozano, and Javier Ruescas. The trends to date show that conversions from the recommendations are high, as well as user retention.
It is estimated that 6 out of 10 consumers follow the recommendations of their friends on social networks in deciding what to buy, and Gartner points out that 84% of millennials are influenced by content generated by people whom they follow.
Peoople takes advantage of this reality by allowing anyone to order their recommendations and share products or experiences.
For influencers, it is a way to get close to their followers, and for users to follow what their idols do and like, and on a personal level to know what people in the environment with similar tastes can recommend to theirs.