• April 2, 2013

Social shopper marketing company Collective Bias on Tuesday announced raising $10.5 million in a first-round funding led by Updata Partners. The Bentonville, Ark.-based company said it would use the new financing to enhance its technology platform and further expand internationally.

Started in 2009, Collective Bias is built around the idea that social marketing will supplant traditional retail marketing vehicles like freestanding inserts and circulars. Its Social Fabric platform is a private community of 1,400 shopping-focused bloggers that clients use to gain consumer insights and identify brand advocates to create content for campaigns.

Bloggers who opt to participate in campaigns typically get paid $200 to $500 to create related content -- whether a how-to video, a recipe, or other type of post -- which is shared across social properties like Facebook, Pinterest or YouTube.