An SEC filing reveals a startup called Needle (they have the .com, and a very cool logo indeed) is raising $2 million in its first round of financing.
Needle is trying to bring some innovation to the ecommerce space, building a ‘guided shopping platform’ that enables connections between potential customers of online shopping sites and ‘real’ product experts they can talk to before making a purchase decision.
The Needle platform connects crowdsourced experts and brand advocates with online shoppers through a chat platform layered with social commerce tools, providing shopping sites a way to cater to website visitors real-time conversations with product owners and people who are passionate about their brands (who in turn get paid for their efforts).
The idea behind the platform is that this should increase conversions at a low cost.
Needle was founded by chief exec Morgan Lynch, previously founder, CEO and chairman of Logoworks (acquired by HP in 2007) and Mikko Valimaki, former Chief Scientist at NASDAQ-listed Blue Coat Systems.
Sam Decker, former Dell exec and CMO of Bazaar Voice, sits on the company’s board. Another board member (and angel investor) that popped up in the filing: Jeff Kearl, who was instrumental in selling Logoworks to HP in the first place.
We’re keeping an eye on this one.