Local Threads Ecommerce Platform Wins $500,000 Pre-Seed Round

Melbourne Ecommerce Platform Local discussions raised $500,000 in pre-seed funding

The round was led by Dr. Qin Ding, co-founder of EMQ, a data cloud warehousing platform, with support from angel investors Alex Yin, founder of fashion brand, UOOYAA, and Eric Liam.

Co-founders Adam Baodunnov and Chris Young hope to empower Local Threads users with data ownership so they can monetize it through the platform’s Data Trade System.

The funds are intended to accelerate platform development for customer data ownership and trading systems. The data management platform allows users to easily manage their data from an easy-to-use app or web portal while shopping.

Baodunnov, a Uyghur serial entrepreneur with three successful tech startups in China under his belt, said they have a clear plan to achieve break-even cash flow.

“End customers can access their data generated from their shopping behavior on Local Threads, including their personal information, product brands, selected sizes, price points of their searches and clicks, and web browsing information,” he said.

“Given the need to protect customer data, including shopping behavior, and the importance of data privacy laws around the world, Local Threads is now putting control and choice back in the hands of consumers.

“For the first time, with advanced technology and innovation, customers can now decide whether or not to share such private information. If the customer so decides, such data can be monetized, even allowing the customer to choose what type of data to share. No data will be shared unless pre-approved by the customer through the Local Threads Data Trade System.”

Its co-founder Chris Yong has 20 years of experience in retail, marketing and management. Together, they want Local Threads to become the Australian-owned e-commerce marketplace for sustainable, ethical fashion and IoT products, and the world’s first e-commerce platform to provide customers with ownership, transparency and control over data.

Yong said their plan is to eventually integrate and grow the Local Threads network through strategic partnerships by linking the app and ecommerce platform to other websites, apps and media publishers through SDK networks.

“This will ultimately create a network where millions of users can manage, track, approve and trade their personal data through the Local Threads platform,” he said.

Local Threads will be available on the Windows, Mac and Linux platforms, with the mobile app currently in beta.