Fanzter lands $2 million |
Follow the ups and downs of a new Seattle startup in a series of behind-the-scenes posts by its founders.
Fanzter lands $2 million
Fanzter, whose Coolspotters Web site helps people find and buy products worn or used by celebrities, has raised an additional $2 million in a deal led by Steamboat Ventures. Second Avenue Partners of Seattle also participated.
The Collinsville, Conn.-based startup, which is built on the back of Amazon Web Services, is led by former Starwave engineer and former ESPN.com/Walt Disney Internet Group vice president of technology Aaron LaBerge. Given those experiences, it makes sense for LaBerge to take money from Steamboat -- the venture arm of Disney -- and Second Avenue -- co-founded by former Starwave CEO Mike Slade.
Coolspotters has been growing fast since its launch 10 months ago. It now generates about one million page views per month.
On the site now, you can see singer John Mayer with a Blackberry Storm or Kate Hudson with a Deere Colhoun handbag. A pink "buy it" button under photos of Mayer and Hudson allow visitors to easily be transferred to an online retail store where they can make a purchase, with Coolspotters collecting affiliate revenue on the purchase.
Visitors to the site also can comment on photos and become fans of select celebrities, with Twilight star Kristen Stewart the most popular celeb on the site right now with 74 fans.
About John Cook
John Cook is co-founder and executive editor of TechFlash. He has been covering the technology beat for nearly a decade, writing about startups, entrepreneurs and venture capital, most recently serving as a reporter/blogger at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
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