Live shopping has become a huge sector in Asia, but the phenomenon is not yet as widespread in Western markets. But two tech founders hope the growth hacking skills they learned at Revolt will boost their startup in the UK live shopping space, and now they have the trust of major investors.

That confidence comes in the form of an $18 million Series A funding round led by Balderton Capital for UK-based live shopping startup Tilt. And it seems to be backed up by a formidable track record: the company claims to have acquired more than half a million users since its launch early last year.

Founded by two former Revolut employees, Neil Shah and Abhi Thanendran, Tilt says its success is the result of its focus on live selling of fashion items.

Live selling in eCommerce has become a phenomenon because of the addictive nature of watching someone sell in real time, which creates (at least) the appearance of an authentic and fun environment. This is in contrast to the traditional online shopping experience, which can feel, and in fact is, static in comparison.

In China, livestreamed e-commerce shopping is expected to grow 25% this year to $703.27 billion. In fact, McKinsey predicts that 10-20% of all e-commerce will be livestreamed shopping by 2026. And it’s estimated that half of all Chinese internet users attended a live sales event last year.

However, in the US, only around 35% of survey respondents said they had ever purchased something at a live-streamed event – ​​and in the UK the figure is even lower at just 25%.

This opportunity has led TikTok to invest a lot of resources and effort in the US to replicate its live shopping success in China. Amazon has also increased its investment in its own Amazon Live platform and now has an Amazon Live channel on Prime.

In a phone call, Tilt CEO and co-founder Thanendran told TechCrunch that while there have been attempts to copy and paste live shopping apps from China to the West, most of them have been unsuccessful. “It’s more important to find the right market to create that experience,” he said.

“You have to think about who the right age group or consumer niche is. Our approach was to target Generation Z. They are very used to these unique apps and experiences from online gaming and watching Twitch streams. We chose fashion and I think we cracked the code here,” he added.

Tilt’s real-time streams give the feeling of shopping in a store, and the app allows offers and deals to be made during the stream. The app also allows users to host live auctions, “boosts” and interactive events. It is in the top ten of the UK shopping app charts, ahead of Depop and Ebay.

Thanendran was previously a quantitative analyst at hedge funds in New York and joined Revolut as its first data scientist. His co-founder Neil Shah previously led international expansion and authorization at Revolut.

Shah added: “Revolut is known for shipping products extremely quickly and rapidly, having this huge product range and testing things extremely quickly. I think that’s where we really excelled with (Tilt).”

Live shopping has proven to be a tough nut to crack in the West. According to Bizrate Insights, nearly three in five U.S. adults (57%) are either not interested in live shopping or are unaware of it.

However, Shah stressed that the Tilt app is designed to last. “We focus on the real-time aspect. For example, sellers can host live giveaways during the stream. This keeps you as a user in the stream because you want to see whether you win the giveaway or not. And we have auctions. People are really excited to see where an item ends up.”

He is confident he can attract users and grow the market. “The reality is that over time we find that none (of our competitors) are moving or growing as fast as we are,” he said. “If we compare what we’ve delivered in the last year alone to the other major players, there’s a significant difference in the number of features and growth and how we’ve tapped into the UK fashion community.”

In a statement, Daniel Waterhouse, partner at Balderton Capital, said: “Tilt has cracked live shopping in the UK, adding over half a million users in the first year of launch – something many of the major players have failed to achieve despite success in Asia. With Neil and Abhi’s relentless focus on innovative features and community engagement to deliver the best experiences for buyers and sellers alike, we look forward to working with the team to take Tilt to the next level.”