The former Prime Video executive is launching Trendio, a video shopping app that aims to reinvent beauty e-commerce

Trendio, a new video shopping app co-founded by a former Amazon Prime Video executive, aims to improve the beauty shopping experience. The shopping app allows customers to enjoy personalized content and seamlessly purchase cosmetics via live videos and recordings.

The app is the brainchild of Alex Perez-Tenessa, former vice president of Prime Video US and head of beauty at CVS, and startup veteran David Olmos. The pair tapped Amazon Live alum Julie Novak and former head of makeup category management at Glossier, Leah Grubb, to create a platform that reimagines the future of beauty e-commerce by delivering personalized advice that can traditionally only be found in stores. with the efficiency of digital shopping. Grubb currently serves as Trendio’s vice president of category management, and Novak is the company’s vice president of content.

“I had the honor of running US Prime Video and saw a lot of new technology around content creation,” Perez-Tenessa said in an interview with TechCrunch. “I saw changes in the expectations and behaviors of audiences around the world, which made me realize that there was an opportunity to use all of these technologies to solve a problem that I saw when I ran the beauty department at CVS, which is that beauty products are complex. They need to be demonstrated so that customers truly understand their value. The evolution of the digital retail landscape has not been in the direction of making this easier for both brands and consumers. So I saw an opportunity to use video technology to create a much better way to discover and buy beauty products.”

Trendio provides both live and pre-recorded content from creators to help users make informed decisions about products and brands. Trendio’s growing number of beauty brands include Merit, Philosophy, Ursa Major, Nudestix, Kjaer Weis, Joanna Vargas, Coola and Avene.

Image credits: Trendio

The app includes a TikTok-like feed where you can view short previews of various products. If you come across a product you’re interested in, you can tap to watch the entire video. You can also watch live videos where you can chat with the creator and other viewers about specific products. Users can browse Trendio’s video catalog to see new products or featured brands, as well as creator channels and brand stores. When you find a product you like, you can check it out directly in the app. Trendio then collects a commission on each product sold on the platform.

At launch, Trendio will be available in the US on iOS, Android and Roku. Perez-Tenessa says one of the lessons he learned from his time at Amazon Prime Video was that consumers are moving toward connected TV, which is why it was important for Trendio to be available on both mobile and Roku devices. While Trendio is initially only available in the US, the company plans to launch the app in additional countries in the future.

All Trendio content is currently edited manually, but the company says it will be edited automatically using artificial intelligence in the future. Trendio is currently training and building artificial intelligence models that will be able to ensure that the application displays content that is interesting to each specific user.

The idea of ​​live video shopping has caught on in Asia, but it’s still a fairly new and experimental concept in the US. Perez-Tenessa believes that for a concept to gain traction in the US, it must be different from the model in Asia.

Image credits: Trendio

“I think the expectations for the content that people encounter are very high in the U.S.,” Perez-Tenessa said. “It also needs to be a mix of live and recorded content. I think this is true to some extent in Asia, but it must be even more true in the US. People have just tried to just copy the Asian model and copy/paste it to the US. I don’t know if this will work because attitudes towards video in the US and Asia have always been different. We need to be accessible to customers in the way they want to consume content. We believe it is possible to provide customers with the quality and experience they expect.”

On the financing side, Trendio closed a $3 million financing round led by Madrona in May. Half of the investment was spent on product development and creating business relationships. The company will use the other half of the investment next year for further product development and marketing. Trendio also plans to breed Series A in 2023.

While Trendio is starting out in the beauty e-commerce space, the company plans to expand beyond this category in the future. Perez-Tenessa says the company has the potential to naturally expand into e-commerce for wellness and accessories and beyond.