- Facebook has reportedly acquired a video shopping company called Packagd to set up a live shopping feature within Marketplace
Facebook reportedly bought a video shopping company called Packagd in order to set up a live shopping feature within Marketplace, according to Bloomberg. Packagd was comprised of a five-person team founded by Eric Feng, Nick Chang, and Kai Ju Liu.
Feng is a former partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Chang worked at companies like MistoBox, Airtime, and Hulu. And Liu was previously an Ads Engineering Lead at Flipboard and worked as an engineer for Google, TellApart, AppNexus, and Yahoo!’s Right Media.
Prior to the acquisition, Packagd was developing a shopping product for YouTube videos. Essentially, the company was planning to bring a QVC-like experience online.
Facebook did not announce the acquisition. However, it is believed that most of the Packagd team joined Facebook to work on a project for Facebook Marketplace. This project would allow users to make purchases while watching live broadcasts.
“As we’ve shared in the past, we’re exploring ways to let buyers easily ask questions and place orders within a live video broadcast,“ said a Facebook spokesperson in a statement via Bloomberg.
