NY startup The Fancy is currently being scouted as a potential acquirement by Apple. The Fancy is a Pinterest-style e-commerce website and though it has a much smaller following than Pinterest, its sales are exploding. The Fancy raised a $10 million round at a reported valuation of $100 million last fall, led by PPR, the French luxury conglomerate behind Gucci. It previously raised $6 million in 2010. Current board members include Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, LeRoy Kim of Allen & Co., and James Pallotta, the owner of the Boston Celtics. Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, the co-founders of venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, are also investors.
The supposed Apple objective with this acquisition: to secure a role in the growing e-commerce market, putting the 400 million-plus users with credit cards on file with Apple’s iTunes Store to work shopping.
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