US-based Lockerz has raised $7.5m in new funding in the wake of the departure of the company’s founder, Kathy Savitt. The latest round was made up primarily of debt and warrants, according to a recent SEC filing and comes two months after Savitt stepped down as CEO to join Yahoo as chief marketing officer, being replaced at Lockerz by Mark Stabingas.
Last year, the social commerce site raised a $36m C round from investors including DAG Ventures, Liberty Media, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Live Nation Entertainment. A Lockerz spokesman said the company had raised $66m in total, when it was reported the company was closing in on raising $45m in total for that round last year. Over the past 12 months, the Seattle-based company acquired online fashion community Chick Approved, AddtoAny, AdNectar, and US-based online hotel booking site Off & Away which allows users to bid against each other for upscale hotel rooms.
In January 2011, Lockerz added Plixi – a photo-sharing application – to its acquisitions portfolio for $10m.
In the same period, Lockerz expanded its own website offerings with the ‘Dealz’ section of the its website enabling its members to buy special offers for events and services.
Lockerz, an invitation-only social media site for users aged 13-30, borrows techniques from social media to sell items to teenagers, providing discounts in exchange for information on users’ tastes.
In April last year, Liberty Media said on its website it owned 65 per cent of Lockerz which fell to 41 per cent in August after Live Nation Entertainment – owners of the Ticketmaster online ticket sales site – at the time of the $36m round.
In July 2010, Lockerz raised an undisclosed amount of venture capital from venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Nasdaq-listed Liberty Media’s Interactive division.