Deal Radar 2008: Retrevo

For the moment, this will be my last Vertical Search Engine on the deal radar, while we turn the spotlight onto other segments. We have discussed TheFind and Wize. Today we will take a look at Retrevo, another shopping search engine. We had profiled Vipin Jain, CEO Retrevo last year.

Retrevo is a product review search service that makes finding, buying and using electronics fun. The site’s real-time independent web service aggregates, comprehends and summarizes important information on electronics products and presents answers in easily digestible and actionable form that average consumers can use.

The site analyzes over 40 different electronics categories, hundreds of thousands of products, millions of facts and millions of user and expert reviews from thousands of publisher sites, user reviews, blogs, forums and more.

In February 2006, Retrevo raised a Seed Round of $700,000 from Alloy Ventures. In December 2006, the site raised $3.2 million in Series A Round of financing from Alloy Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners.

Retrevo earns cost-per-click revenue for driving leads to consumer electronics retailers. CPC is in the 20c to $1 range, and it varies by network and by category. Branded advertisement is also part of its business model. The Company expects to be profitable by the end of 2008.

Retrevo is a good acquisition target for eBay or Amazon. By acquiring Retrevo, eBay, especially, can cut down on both its customer acquisition cost and dependency on Google, and offer a better shopping experience.

Retrevo is different from other shopping sites as it helps consumers both before and after a transaction is completed. Imagine, you buy something on eBay, and powered by Retrevo, eBay brings to you personalized after-sales support, so to speak!

I have harped enough now, on eBay’s need to buy some of these experiential search engines and shopping sites. I sincerely hope that eBay sees the brand enhancement potential of these technologies, instead of being clueless and boring over extensive periods of time!

This segment is a part in the series : Deal Radar 2008