Glimpse Secures $6.2M to Establish Immersive Experiential Retail Channel for Direct-to-Consumer Brands and Services
Funding will support company’s continued growth in providing a unique touch-and-feel experience to drive brand awareness and product purchases at luxury short-term rentals and resorts
Glimpse, the leading platform enabling consumer-facing brands and service providers to reach guests and provide an immersive trial experience through product placements in luxury short-term rentals and resorts, announced the completion of a seed funding round, bringing total investments in the company to $6.2 million. The investment was led by GSR Ventures, Origin Ventures, Y Combinator and angel investors including Julia and Kevin Hartz, Bradley Horowitz, and Bangaly Kaba.
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“I host several Airbnb properties myself and am proud to provide my guests with heavenly Purple mattresses, courtesy of Glimpse!”
Founded in 2020, Glimpse provides a genuine “try-before-you-buy” experience, allowing consumers to enjoy a variety of products in a natural, home-like setting, offering categories such as Bedding, Consumer Electronics, Beauty, Kitchen, Home Office, Home Accessories & Decor, Home Fitness, Furniture, and more. More than a dozen brands are actively using Glimpse to supplement their online retail channels including Purple, Molekule, and Lyric.
Glimpse manages logistics to ensure proper product placement and creates an optimized funnel to drive sales and customer acquisition for partners. Glimpse has partnered with more than 15 brands who have seen better performance from directly attributable sales and leads than existing channels. Glimpse’s property partners can provide premium guest amenities for free or at a large discount, significantly boosting guest satisfaction and experience. Glimpse serves more than 8,000 luxury properties across the US and to-date has launched its services in 40 states.
“Short-term rentals provide the perfect environment for customer engagement, as guests can truly experience these products in their intended setting,” said Akash Raju, Co-Founder and CEO of Glimpse. “Glimpse gives brands phenomenal access to potential customers and provides immediate ROI on brand awareness and conversions.”
Built around multiple customer touch points, including product introductions in guest welcome messages, in-property trials, customized displays, social media mentions, and post-stay retargeting, Glimpse’s model optimizes the conversion of high-intent leads.
“With significant demand from brands trying to break through the noise and a pipeline full of potential partners, Glimpse is shifting the paradigm of where, when and how consumer-facing product companies are connecting with key audiences and turning them into long-term brand ambassadors,” said Yuechen Zhao, Partner at GSR Ventures. “I host several Airbnb properties myself and am proud to provide my guests with heavenly Purple mattresses, courtesy of Glimpse!”
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Raju and Glimpse co-founders, Anuj Mehta and Kushal Negi, launched Glimpse while students at Purdue University before taking the company through Y Combinator, where it was named one of TechCrunch’s favorite 11 startups in the Summer 2020 batch.
“With Lyric, seeing and experiencing is believing so getting the massager in front of consumers to try is a top priority,” said Hugh Williams, co-founder of Lyric. “Glimpse gave us an opportunity to create ‘showrooms’ for our device at top rental properties and resorts across the country, supported by smooth logistics and detailed analytics. I’m excited to continue working with Glimpse to drive trial efficiently and see them continue to grow!”
“Glimpse has been a great partner. The process is simple, and the products are aligned with our customers who expect nothing but luxury,” said Ignacio Pellican, Director of Operations at Manor Vail Lodge in Vail, CO. “The execution is easy; from the product requests on the website to the delivery and set up. Guests love the massage gun!”
