a16z’s latest web3 bet

If you’ve ever tried your hand at eCommerce or moved your business online, you know making a sale isn’t as simple as listing an item.

Rye launched today, following a $14 million seed funding round led by a16z, to enable developers to build eCommerce directly in native digital experiences. Rye is co-founded by Justin Kan (Twitch co-founder), with former Reddit engineers Arjun Bhargava and Saurabh Sharma serving as CEO and CTO, respectively. Others on the team include Scribd co-founder Tikhon Bernstam, former head of Zynga Robin Chan, and Jamie Quint, former head of growth at Notion.

“After weeks of researching the market and talking to brands and sellers, my co-founders and I started to sketch together what the future of eCommerce should look like: an open and free network that could hold the collection of all products — where any brand can plug in their inventory, and any seller could pull from,” said Bhargava.

Rye will use a native token ($RYE) to offer lower transaction costs and make Rye a strong competitor to Amazon and Shopify, betting on $RYE’s valuation increasing in the long run to make up the difference. According to Kan, the ability to help merchants sell more inventory with no additional cost is part of what reeled him into the venture. Developers and merchants can also unlock USDC cashback rewards and more. Eventually, the Rye API will be fully decentralized on the Solana blockchain, and Bhargava and his team plan to introduce wallet creation for shoppers, NFT drops, and coupons.

One of Rye’s areas of focus is allowing sellers to retain their relationship with customers and get higher quality customer data. They can also retrieve data from 390M+ products, including those on Shopify and Amazon, and connect to affiliate programs, which are meant to make it easy for companies to get paid out, whether selling through influencers or directly.

For shoppers, Rye minimizes the hassle of being redirected to another merchant. According to the team, 46% of shoppers bounce when redirected to a merchant page. Instead, end-users can checkout directly from your app using any credit card. One-click checkout flashbacks?

Justin Kan, co-founder of Rye and Twitch, is hosting an AMA today. Ask him about Rye, entrepreneurship, or crypto, and learn what makes his new venture different from other eCommerce platforms.

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