Venture Capital Firms

Investor, Shasta Venture Leads $4.8 Million in Series A Funding for Plastic Jungle

Based in Clovis, California, one of the leading websites for buying and selling online, Plastic Jungle, has announced that it had secured $4.8 million in series A funding with Shasta Ventures leading in the funding. Bay Partners, First Round Capital, and Harrison Metal are other investors who participated in this round of funding. Plastic Jungle offers an innovative service in the consumer industry by making gift cards valuable for everyone. On Plastic Jungle, consumers can buy gift cards and save a significant amount of cash, as well as selling the gift cards for cash or even trading them for other gift cards. In todays retail market, many retailers offer gift cards for a certain price, which allow a consumer to get a certain amount of merchandise from that particular retailer for free — usually being the amount that the gift card was paid for. For example, Home Depot can offer a gift card that is a $100 value and a consumer with that gift card can get up to $100 of merchandise for free at any Home Depot. Plastic Jungle takes it one step further by allowing the consumer to sell that Home Depot gift card and get cash or trading it in for a gift card from another retailer, like Foot Locker, for example.

According to Gary Biggs, CEO of Plastic Jungle, this round of funding is not just an advancement for the company, but also brings Plastic Jungle expertise and valuable resources through the deep experience of the company’s investors. Mr. Biggs further states that Plastic Jungle is entering a new phase in its business that is both exciting and the company is in a unique position to create a new market that is both efficient and prosperous in the consumer industry. This niche is unique, because consumers can really appreciate the value of their gift cards. For example, someone gets a gift card from one retailer as a gift for his birthday or Christmas, and that retailer is not his retailer of choice; he can go to Plastic Jungle and either cash in on that gift card or exchange it with a gift card from another retailer.

Along with this round of funding, Plastic Jungle also agreed to take on two new members onto its board of directors. These new members include Tod Francis of Shasta Ventures and Joseph Koepleman of First Round Capital. Existing board members include Gary Biggs, who is not only the Plastic Jungle’s founder, but the company’s founder as well, Tina Henson, COO, and CEO of St. Bernard Software, Lou Ryan.

Based in Menlo Park, California, Shasta Ventures was founded in 2004 and has over $640 million under its management. The vc firm mainly invests in early stage companies that focus on technology. Some companies in Shasta’s portfolio include Asterpix, BabyCenter, Blue Nile, Eye-Fi, and others.

Bay Capital is based in Silicon Valley and has funded over 350 new startup companies since its founding in 1976. Bay Partners mainly invests in the tech industry and has over $1 billion under its management. Some companies in Bay Partners’ portfolio include Advanced Power, Envia, SpringSource, Dyna Trace, and others.

First Round Capital is a vc firm that provides seed funding to new startups and invests mainly in the tech industry. First Round Capital was founded in 2004 and likes to take an active role in the companies it invests in. Some companies in First Round’s portfolio include VideoEgg, Knewton, Wikia, and others.

Harrison Metal looks for outstanding entrepreneurs in both the consumer and small business industries. Harrison mainly makes investments in seed and early stage funding. Some of the companies in Harrison Metal’s portfolio include Aardvark, Lumos Labs, TownMe, and others.

For more information about Plastic Jungle, click here.

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