Ribbon (company)
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Company type | Private |
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Industry | Technology |
Founded | 2011 |
Founder | Hany Rashwan |
Headquarters | San Francisco, California |
Website | www |
Ribbon is a San Francisco payments startup that lets users sell online using a shortened URL that can be shared across email, social media and a seller's own website.[1] The service focuses on bring integrated checkouts directly to platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter letting buyers purchase without leaving those services.
The company graduated from a startup accelerator called AngelPad as "Kout" in October 2011[2] and subsequently raised $1.6 million from Tim Draper through Draper Associates, Naguib Sawiris, Emil Michael, Gokul Rajaram, and others bringing its total raised amount to $1.75 million.[3][4]
Twitter shutdown
On April 10, 2013 the company announced support for "in-stream" payments on Twitter, allowing buyers to purchase items without leaving the Twitter.com stream. Twitter shut down Ribbon's API access after approximately an hour and a half, according to Head of Business Development, Daniel Brusilovsky.[5] Ribbon requested permission to show video cards, but after receiving permission then switched the url to show the hacked checkout system.[6] The company wrote a statement announcing they will revert to showcasing only a summary of their product without the ability to do in-stream payments.[7] As of April 11, 2013 Ribbon links inside Twitter no longer work in-stream and buyers are redirected to purchase on the Ribbon website.
References
- ^ "Payments Startup Ribbon Now Lets You Buy In-Stream On Twitter.com, Launches YouTube Support & Price-Matches PayPal" TechCrunch.
- ^ "Former Googlers’ AngelPad Graduates 15 More Start-Ups" AllThingsD,
- ^ "Ribbon Raises $1.6M From Tim Draper & Others, Launches New Way To Take Payments Directly In The Facebook News Feed" TechCrunch.
- ^ "Ribbon | Crunchbase Profile" Crunchbase.
- ^ http://www.informationweek.com/development/web/twitter-kills-ribbon-payment-button-in-t/240152662
- ^ "Well, That Was Fast: Twitter Already Shut Down Ribbon’s Newly Launched In-Stream Payments Feature" TechCrunch.
- ^ "An Update on Ribbon and Twitter" Ribbon Blog
External links