Shoelace

Early-stage social commerce platform acquired by Pinterest

Shoelace was a social commerce advertising technology platform founded to help retailers and brands leverage user-generated content and social media posts to create shoppable advertising experiences. The company specialized in transforming social content into performance-driven ads that could be deployed across various digital channels, enabling consumers to discover and purchase products directly from social media-inspired creative. Shoelace's platform allowed brands to aggregate content from social platforms, curate the most engaging posts, and turn them into shoppable ads with integrated product catalogs. In May 2018, Shoelace was acquired by Pinterest, marking a strategic move by the visual discovery platform to enhance its shopping capabilities and social commerce offerings. Following the acquisition, Shoelace's technology and team were integrated into Pinterest to help build out Pinterest's shopping features and advertising products. The Shoelace brand and standalone platform were discontinued as its capabilities were absorbed into Pinterest's broader e-commerce and advertising infrastructure. The acquisition represented Pinterest's commitment to becoming a more powerful platform for product discovery and social commerce, with Shoelace's expertise in user-generated content and shoppable experiences contributing to Pinterest's evolution as a shopping destination.