Vetted Raises $14M For AI-Powered Product Search

Product search engine Vetted has raised $14 million in a Series A round led by Insight Partners, the company announced Tuesday.

Vetted, which was formerly known as Lustre, uses artificial intelligence to help online shoppers find the products they’re looking for that are the most highly-recommended by other users. The company, which was founded in 2019, uses reviews from platforms like YouTube, Reddit, and review websites to recommend products, according to a press release from the company.

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“Shoppers shouldn’t have to spend hours sifting through indistinguishable products littered across thousands of ad-infested sites loaded with fake reviews and unreliable information,” Vetted co-founder Stuart Kearney said in a statement.

“That’s why we’re building Vetted. Our users get a smart guide aligned with their best interests, transforming e-commerce into the simple and trustworthy experience everyone wants – especially today, when every dollar counts.”

Online shopping has seen a boom since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with more consumers buying everything from clothes to groceries online. But searching for items, like consumer electronics, often comes with having to read multiple buyer reviews, along with recommendations from review websites, such as Wirecutter. It’s not uncommon for buyers to have to do research on their own before settling on a product.

More than 330,000 online shoppers have used Vetted, and users buy the products recommended by Vetted 70% of the time, according to Hanna Jung, the company’s VP of Marketing. Jung added that users are also “asking for help beyond our initial focus on consumer electronics.”

The new Series A funding will help Vetted, which is based in San Francisco, expand its product and retailer coverage to other areas, Jung added in her statement.

Vetted last raised a seed round in August 2020, according to Crunchbase. The company is backed by investors including Index Ventures, Golden Ventures, and Bling Capital.

Illustration: Dom Guzman