Zappli (Acquired by Shopzilla)

Zappli Inc. was a mobile commerce firm established in 2010 in San Francisco by co-founders Philippe Suchet, who served as CEO, and Chandra Siva, the CTO. Suchet is a serial entrepreneur with a background in creating and leading tech companies in marketing automation and mobile commerce, both of which resulted in acquisitions. This experience in identifying and building solutions for market needs was directly relevant to Zappli's focus on streamlining the mobile shopping experience.

The company's core business was providing mobile-centric shopping solutions designed to tackle the high friction and abandonment rates common in mobile checkouts. Zappli developed two main products: myShopanion, a social shopping application, and InstaBuy, its flagship universal instant checkout solution. The business operated in the burgeoning m-commerce market, targeting online shoppers who were increasingly using their mobile devices but were frustrated by cumbersome purchasing processes. The revenue model centered on facilitating transactions and likely taking a percentage of the sales driven through its platform.

InstaBuy was engineered to allow consumers to purchase products from hundreds of major online retailers in just two clicks, drastically reducing the time and effort required. A key differentiator of Zappli's technology was that it did not require any implementation or integration from the merchants' side. Furthermore, users could complete their purchases without being redirected to the retailer's website or app. Zappli also pioneered one of the first universal shopping cart technologies, enabling consumers to aggregate millions of items from various retailers into a single cart and proceed with a single checkout process, a significant convenience at the time. In July 2013, the company was acquired by the shopping comparison network Shopzilla (now Connexity) to bolster Shopzilla's mobile capabilities. Following the acquisition, Suchet became the Chief Strategy Officer at Shopzilla, and Siva took on a role leading key technology initiatives.

Keywords: mobile commerce, m-commerce, universal checkout, instant buy, universal shopping cart, fintech, e-commerce solution, mobile payment, one-click checkout, social shopping, myShopanion, InstaBuy, online retail, shopping technology, payment processing, checkout optimization, mobile user experience, acquired, Philippe Suchet, Chandra Siva, Shopzilla, Connexity, San Francisco startup