Hukkster
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | E-commerce, Technology |
| Founded | December 1, 2011 in New York City, United States |
| Founder | Katie Finnegan, Erica Bell |
| Defunct | August 1, 2014 |
| Fate | Ceased operations; later relaunched with revised business strategy on April 9, 2015 |
| Headquarters | New York City , United States |
Area served | Online retail consumers |
| Products | Digital shopping assistant service (price monitoring and discount alerts) |
Hukkster functioned as a digital shopping assistant that monitored online products and alerted consumers about discounts and promotional codes. The service ceased operations on August 1, 2014, before making a comeback with a revised business strategy on April 9, 2015.
History
Established in New York City, Hukkster was created in December 2011 by Katie Finnegan and Erica Bell, who previously worked as merchandisers at J.Crew and served as retail consultants at A.T. Kearney. The platform initially launched in a private beta phase in May 2012 and became publicly available by September 2013.
In November 2012, the company secured $1 million in seed capital, led by Winklevoss Capital Management, with additional investment from Chris Fiore, President of Henri Bendel, and Jerome Griffith, CEO of Tumi Inc..
By March 2013, Hukkster introduced applications for iPhone and iPad users. The following month, it collaborated with Self magazine, allowing customers to monitor products directly via the magazine’s website. During this period, Time Inc. recognized Hukkster as one of its top 10 NYC Startups to Watch.
In May 2013, Hukkster completed a $2 million seed funding round that included Lisa Blau, spouse of Related Companies president Jeff Blau, along with returning investors Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. October 2013 marked the launch of an updated app version featuring improved capabilities, such as enabling shoppers to enter style numbers while shopping in physical stores.
In 2014, Fashion Group International honored Hukkster as a finalist in its Rising Star Awards. On March 12 of the same year, the company raised an additional $1.5 million in venture funding from investors including Martin Trust (CEO of Samtex USA), Kris and Tushara Canekeratne (founders of Virtusa), Rowland Moriarty (chairman of CRA International), and Archie Gottesman (EVP at Edison Properties).