Brilliant Shopper Secures Series A Funding
Innovative New Shopping Search Engine Poised for Growth
FREMONT, Calif., Aug. 4 -- Brilliant Shopper, Inc., an emerging leader in shopping search technology, announced today the completion of its Series A funding. Led by high-tech pioneers Donald Scifres and Michael Foster of SDL Ventures, this additional financing will accelerate development of Brilliant Shopper`s proprietary e-commerce search functionality.
"Brilliant Shopper`s unique approach provides a next generation solution for people frustrated with current online shopping options," stated Dr. Donald Scifres, managing director of SDL Ventures and former co-chairman of JDS Uniphase. "We are very excited to be working with Brilliant Shopper`s talented team," said Michael Foster, vice president and partner of SDL Ventures. "We see Brilliant Shopper as a standout in this fast-growing market."
This latest investment will be instrumental as Brilliant Shopper continues to develop unique new search capabilities for its website (www.brilliantshopper.com). "We are thrilled to have Don and Mike on board as we leverage our technology to make online shopping easier than ever before," said Phillip Lan, CEO of Brilliant Shopper. The company is currently expanding its headquarters and aggressively hiring additional engineering staff.
Traffic to the website has tripled since April as Brilliant Shopper is quickly becoming a favorite online destination for shoppers. "People enjoy the Brilliant Shopper experience because its comprehensive product index and easy- to-use interface saves them time and money," stated Mr. Lan. "Our shopping tools reduce the number of sites shoppers need to visit as they search for merchants, product advice, and online coupons." Significant enhancements are forthcoming for this fast-growing website, with several new features planned for introduction later in the year.
Vertical search is the next step in the evolution of search engines. Internet users are growing increasingly frustrated with the one-size-fits-all approach of general search engines like Google and MSN, and a growing number of them have turned to specialized search engines to expedite their searches. Retail shopping search has emerged as one of the fastest growing categories of vertical search as online buying now exceeds $141 billion annually, and a quarter of all retail purchases are influenced by the Web.
About Brilliant Shopper
Brilliant Shopper (www.brilliantshopper.com) is a comprehensive, user- friendly shopping search engine that helps "ready-to-buy" consumers research and purchase products online. Brilliant Shopper`s robust shopping index delivers targeted and relevant search results for online shoppers so they save time and money. Based in Silicon Valley, Brilliant Shopper is led by technology and Internet search veterans from a range of industry leaders, including Ask Jeeves, Nortel and IBM.
About SDL Ventures and SDL Capital
SDL Ventures, LLC and SDL Capital, LP are investment companies founded in February 2003 by Dr. Donald Scifres, formerly the founder, CEO and chairman of SDL, Inc. (a NASDAQ 100 company) and co-chairman of JDS Uniphase. Dr. Scifres joined forces with Michael Foster, the former CFO at SDL, Inc., to invest in both technology start-ups (SDL Ventures) as well as public companies (SDL Capital).
CONTACT:
Kathleen Aranjo of Brilliant Shopper, Inc.
+1-408-873-8995
media@brilliantshopper.com
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