[Updated 11/30/10 with signup link. See below] Seattle-based Sparkbuy has come out of stealth mode today, rolling out a comparison shopping website for consumer electronics, starting with laptops. The company also confirmed that it raised $1 million last month led by Benaroya Ventures and angel investor Geoff Entress. Sparkbuy’s website is now in closed beta trials. (Here’s a signup link that’s good for 100 registrations.)
Sparkbuy is led by entrepreneur Dan Shapiro, who previously co-founded Ontela (now Photobucket), a mobile imaging startup that focused on technology for sending camera-phone pictures to friends and family. Earlier this month, I reported on rumors I’d heard that Sparkbuy was focused on comparison shopping for consumer electronics—which, of course, turned out to be true.
Reached by e-mail, Shapiro talked a little about his motivation for starting Sparkbuy. “Am I the only person who doesn’t want to read five pages of reviews in order to feel like an informed consumer?” he wrote.
He also said a bit more about his experience as a second-time entrepreneur. “Ontela was something I was excited about. Sparkbuy is something I’m passionate about. I’m a hardcore tech shopping geek, and I always feel like it takes too long, and is too hard, to find the perfect gadget,” he says. “If I was the suspicious type, I’d think manufacturers were deliberately obfuscating their products to make it hard to find the best one.”
I haven’t had a chance to try out the new site yet, but if you have, please leave a comment below (or leave a note with Marginize—just click on the tab to the right of this story) and let us know how well it works.
