Wrapp is a company that makes it possible to give free and paid gift cards to Facebook friends. Wrapp has announced earlier this week that they have raised $15 million in a second round of funding. The company has raised over $25 million thus far. Based in Sweden, Wrapp has grown quickly since launching in the U.S.
Warby Parker is an e-commerce company that sells trendy glasses. Warby Parker has raised $41.5 million in series B funding from investors like Millard Drexler (J. Crew CEO) and credit card company American Express. This past September, Warby had already announced that they raised $37 million in funding led by General Catalyst Partners. However the company left some room and time for “select investors” to join the round. Drexler has become “formally involved” in the company said Warby Parker co-CEO Neil Blumenthal. Blumenthal said that Drexler became involved since he was interested in Warby’s retail initiatives.
Radius (formerly known as Fwix) is a startup company that helps sales people find local businesses. Radius has raised $12.4 million in funding from American Express. Investors that participated in this round include Comcast Ventures, Western Technology Investment, and BlueRun Ventures participating.
iZettle is a Square-like competitor based in Europe and they have expanded their Series B round of 25 million euros in funding ($31.4 million). iZettle plans to use the funding for product development and expansion into new markets. iZettle announced on their website that American Express is joining the company as an investor as the second credit card company to participate in the Series B funding round. Mastercard is also an investor. Other Series B investors include Greylock Partners, Northzone, SEB Private Equity, Index Ventures, and Creandum.
American Express has put together a series of articles called women in business that showcases the accomplishments of women entrepreneurs. The goal of the series is to create a conversation with women business owners through social media channels.
American Express and Zynga have partnered on creating a new prepaid debit card that rewards users with a rewards program. The users would be able to earn virtual currency when spending money in the real world in a way that similar to consumers earning free airline miles for every dollar spent on an airline miles card. The rewards will start with FarmVille and it will eventually be expanded to CityVille and CastleVille.
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Comedian and “Parks and Recreation” star Aziz Ansari is starring in an American Express TV ad for the Sync program. In the ad, Ansari looks up his date on Facebook to see what she is interested in and buys relevant products to show how much they have in common. Ansari used the “Link, Like, Love” program and Sync on his smartphone to buy a tuba, kayak, modern art, and a parachute. Watch to see what happens next.
Credit card company American Express is launching a deals platform in partnership with Facebook that puts other deals companies to shame. Sales partners in the deal include Dunkin’ Donuts, H&M, Sports Authority, Sheraton, Travelocity and more. TechCrunch reports that the deals will work so that spending with the partnered companies will yield returns on AmEx cards, such as “spend $30 and get a $10 statement credit” or “visit 3 times, spend $50 each time and get a $10 statement credit.” Users can get these deal offers by linking their AmEx cards with their Facebook accounts.
