Toronto-based tech startup aims to become the essential network for brands and influencers

Influencer commerce platform Because I Love It, aka BILI, designed to help influencers and creators discover and sell the products they love, to the fans that love them, has raised over $600,000 in seed financing. Already, BILI has grown its influencer database to over 10,000. Building on this momentum, BILI will use the financing to accelerate growth while continuing to invest in new product innovation.

“BILI sits at a unique intersection of social commerce and we want to scale how brands and influencers sell together,” says Adrian Capobianco, CEO. “Brands are seeing an average of 6:1 return on investment with Influencer Marketing and we want to give more brands an opportunity to discover and partner with influencers to grow their business.”

Marketing Technology News:  Screena Releases the 1ST Movie Set in the Sandbox, Announces Its Plan to Build a Metaverse…

“Brands are seeing an average of 6:1 return on investment with Influencer Marketing and we want to give more brands an opportunity to discover and partner with influencers to grow their business.”

— Adrian Capobianco, CEO, BILI

The Social Commerce industry is expected to grow to $80 billion by 2025 in the U.S. alone, with 72% of people using social media platforms to research brands and 97% of Gen Z consumers using social media as their top source of shopping inspiration. (Source: influencer marketing factory). While celebrity influencers’ with 1M+ followers only represent 1% of the total influencer market, there is great opportunity with the thousands – even millions – of Nano, Micro and Macro influencers (5,000-500,000+ fans) that have the trust and attention of their audiences.

BILI makes influencer marketing and the social commerce transactions between brands and influencers genuinely frictionless. Brands have an opportunity to discover and connect with the influencers that give them access to engaged target audiences; and influencers can leverage BILI’s eco-system to build new revenue streams with direct access to brand partners willing to share profits through fair commission on products sold.

The initial seed investments will enable BILI to continue to grow their network and to refine the platform with a seamless experience to connect influencers and brands.

Marketing Technology News: MarTech Interview with Chris Knowlton, Chief Evangelist at Panopto

BILI’s current set of tools and services includes:

– Insights: BILI Shares insights on trending topics, hot selling products and ways to be relevant and topical for Influencer fans.
– Expertise: Data and analytics dashboard built with blockchain technology.
– Paid: Brands and influencers get paid on everything that sells on the platform.
– Performance based: There are no fixed costs
– “BILI Bounce”: Incentives that motivate social shoppers to share deals.
– Influencer Network: Influencers build their teams to get bonus earnings.
– Multi-platform: Share across any social media or communications platform.

Over the next few months BILI’s teams are refining the platform, solidifying partnerships and growing the influencer database.