App/tech business of the week - Tuggle

What ~ Tuggle is a website that allows shoppers to search online and offline shops in one place.

Shoppers can then buy online if there is an e-commerce store, or visit their physical retail outlet to make their purchase. Currently, the site has over 12,000 products displayed from Australian outlets.

Who ~ Built by founder Ankur Sharda, who previously worked at Macquarie Group and the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre (then known as iVEC).

Quotations ~ "I wanted to combine the ease of discovery of online with the immediacy of bricks-and-mortar shopping" ~ Ankur Sharda

Where ~ On the web at tuggle.com.au (Australia) and tuggle.co (US)

$ ~ Bootstrapped to date. Six months on since launch, Mr Sharda is looking to raise a seed round to improve the product, increase coverage and pursue global growth.

Market ~ The website has had over 200,000 unique Australian visitors this year. The contestable Australian market is at least $60 million annually and globally over $1.2 billion.

The company has started building Tuggle for the US at tuggle.co, which will allow for accelerated growth and global expansion. Asia is also a market the company is looking at.

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Tuggle launched in Marchy 2015 and is ranked #19 by launch date in the BNiQ Startups List