Social Commerce Platform Flip Raises $144 Million, Adds AI Advertising Engine

Social commerce platform Flip has raised $144 million in a Series C funding round.

The firm will also relaunch its marketing platform for brands to incorporate AXON artificial intelligence (AI) technology from AppLovin, which made a $50 million investment in the funding round, the companies said in a Tuesday (April 2) press release.

“With the recent launch of our MagicOS ads manager, and now the upcoming launch of our advertising powered by AXON, we are confident we can help tens of thousands of brands find the right customer profitably,” Noor Agha, CEO of Flip, said in the release. “We are thrilled to have continued support from our investors and to add AppLovin to the mix.”

Flip’s “shopping social network” features 60-second video reviews of products, which are shared by shoppers who bought the product, according to the release. The platform enables shoppers to discover products through this user-generated content, order products through the shoppable videos and a one-click checkout, and share their own reviews and monetize that content.

With the addition of AppLovin’s AXON technology, Flip will have an AI advertising engine that will help advertisers connect to their ideal customers and reach more customers, in measurable ways, including AppLovin’s 1.4 billion daily active users, the release said.

“With AXON powering Flip’s ads, the Flip consumer will find more products to purchase,” Adam Foroughi, co-founder and CEO of AppLovin, said in the release. “Likewise, brands on Flip will be positioned to drive significantly more sales.”

Flip’s Series C funding round was led by Streamlined Ventures and brought the company’s pre-money valuation to $1.05 billion, according to the release.

The Flip app has been downloaded about 5 million times, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

The company said it sets itself apart from other social commerce apps by offering only brand-name products, promoting them with video reviews made by shoppers who have actually bought the product, and displaying items to shoppers based on the interests they share on a questionnaire they fill out when they sign up for the app, according to the report.

If Flip finds that a brand has paid a creator to produce content, it bans both from the platform, Agha told PYMNTS in an interview posted in April 2023.

“People are genuinely craving honesty when it comes to product recommendations, as there is an overwhelming amount of content on everything everywhere,” Agha said at the time.