Reuter site - Factbox: Lure of Facebook "social commerce" for VCs

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Factbox: Lure of Facebook "social commerce" for VCs

Thu, Apr 05 07:09 AM EDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The potential of e-commerce on and around Facebook Inc's giant social network has inspired a rash of investments from Silicon Valley venture capitalists and even Wall Street outfits. Here are 10 recent examples.

- BeachMint, which sells apparel, jewelry, shoes and other accessories through Facebook, has raised about $70 million from investors including Accel Partners, Goldman Sachs, New World Ventures and Millennium Technology Value Partners.

- Buddy Media, which helps brands manage their Facebook presence, raised $54 million in August from GGV Capital, Institutional Venture Partners, Bay Partners and Insight Venture Partners.

- Fab.com, a seller of designer goods that is built around Facebook and other social networks, has raised more than $50 million from venture capital firms including Andreessen Horowitz, Menlo Ventures and First Round Capital.

- OpenSky, a shopping website that lets consumers get recommendations from celebrities through social networks including Facebook, raised $30 million in October from Providence Equity Partners, Highland Capital Partners, Canaan Partners and The Raine Group.

- Oodle, which runs a classifieds marketplace on Facebook with more than 3 million unique monthly users, has raised more than $20 million from venture capital firms including Greylock Partners and Redpoint Ventures.

- Yardsellr, which links buyers and sellers through Facebook, raised $5 million in late 2010 from Accel Partners and Harrison Metal Capital, which had previously seeded the business with $750,000.

- Lockerz, a social shopping network, has raised more than $50 million from investors including venture capital giant Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

- Payvment, which runs thousands of Facebook stores for small merchants, has raised $8 million from investors including Sierra Ventures and BlueRun Ventures.

- Wrapp, a social gifting service, has raised more than $10 million from investors including Greylock Partners and Atomico, a venture capital firm run by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström.

- Minted, a social commerce startup focused on stationery, invitations and greeting cards, raised $5.5 million in November from Benchmark Capital, IDG Ventures and Menlo Ventures. Marissa Mayer of Google and Jeremy Stoppelman of Yelp also invested.

(Reporting By Alistair Barr; Editing by Gary Hill)