Over the next couple weeks I’ll be taking a closer look at the companies in My Top 10 List of e-commerce startups in Los Angeles. Today I’ll start with Little Black Bag, the company at number 10 on my list.

First, it’s worth mentioning that Little Black Bag has the potential to quickly move up this list. Little Black Bag is still very early in its history; the company was launched on January 31, 2012.

LBB’s business model is a hybrid of the numerous subscription “box” startups (e.g. Birchbox, BarkBox, RocksBox, GlossyBox, Wittlebee, et al). The main difference with LBB is that customers can view the items they are going to receive and even trade them with other customers before they are shipped. This generates much more social engagement then other subscription services. In addition customers can pay a $10 premium and try out LBB without signing up for a subscription

To quote LBB’s Press Kit:

“On Little Black Bag, shoppers take an interactive style quiz & are offered a personalized mystery bag filled with the best in women’s fashion & beauty products. Shoppers then have a week to search the Little Black Bag marketplace & trade with others to assemble their perfect bag of items. Once trading is over, the products in the bag are shipped out. Trading is fun & exciting, as shoppers discover new brands & see what products are trending. In addition, select users can win “Delights”—hot seasonal products worth 4-5 times the price of their bag.”

Little Black Bag was co-founded by Dan Murillo, Sasha Siddhartha, and David Weissman. David Weissman was recently an executive at GSI Commerce (sold to EBay for $2.4Bil). The co-founders clearly have a big vision for Little Black Bag and anticipate using it as an entry point to build a larger social commerce company. Co-Founder Dan Murillo was quoted as saying “When I came across this idea, I thought it would be the perfect starting point from which to build a truly interactive community around eCommerce.”

Little Black Bag has raised $2.75Mil from GRP Partners, DCM, David Tisch, and others.

Key Points:

  • Location: Santa Monica, CA
  • Founded: Fall 2011
  • Launched: January 2012
  • Initial Venture Investment: February 2012
  • Amount Raised: $2.75Mil (Series A)
  • Investors: GRP Partners, DCM, Chamath Palihapitiya, Tim Kendall and David Tisch