Swipely emerges and raises $7.5 million

Startup looking to take on social shopping by letting users share all their credit card purchases

After several of Blippy user's credit card numbers leaked onto Google search results, another startup has emerged to try and take on the, tell your friends what you are buying social-shopping space.  

Swipely, a startup that describes itself as, "an online service that gives users an easy way to turn their purchases into conversations," announced on Tuesday it's launched its invitation-only preview and received a Series A round of $7.5 million.  

The investment was led by Index Ventures.  Other investors include Greylock Partners, First Round Capital, and several angel investors including Ron Conway.  This brings Swipely's total funding to $8.5 million.  

Similar to Blippy, a user enters their credit card information when they sign up to Swipely, and from then on, Swipely tracks and records every purchase you make with that card.  Swipely said it works with all major credit cards and online retailers.  The idea is to let users use that data to share info with their friends about what they are buying, and whether they liked that purchase, etc.  The startup makes sure to guarantee its services are 100% secure by sharing its passed reviews and audits from third party privacy and security organizations like VeriSign and McAfee.

So what is Swipely bringing to the table that differs from Blippy?  First of all, a user's purchase information does not display the actual amount spent.  Second, the user experience is much more elaborate.  Users can rate their purchases and add comments or photos.  They also get to pick which of their 'swipes,' aka purchases, get posted on their pages.  

“Our mission is to fundamentally change the way consumers shop and share by adding value to every swipe […] Our service will transform everyday purchases at restaurants, movies or online retailers into conversations with friends, personalized recommendations and opportunities to save money,” said Angus Davis, Founder and CEO of Swipely in a press release.

The Providence, Rhode Island-based company said it would use the funds to continue growing its team, explore other benefits for consumers and businesses, build new ways to shop, share and save, and build new tools to help businesses attract, understand and reward its customers.

I've reached out to Swipely to get some more details on where they see this emerging social shopping sector headed and will update when they respond.