Reactiv, a Toronto startup founded by former Shopify employees that builds mobile shopping apps for brands, acquired New York rival Kin Commerce in an all-cash deal for an undisclosed price, according to Alex Riehl at BetaKit. Kin’s founders, who came from Meta, had moved on to an AI marketing startup, so Reactiv took over Kin’s technology, intellectual property, and customers, including Steve Madden and Chubbies, along with a single engineer. Reactiv plans to fold Kin’s social features, such as “For You” feeds, forums, and Instagram posts inside brand apps, into its own platform, but it’s keeping Kin separate until after Black Friday. Reactiv also disclosed a previously unannounced $6M seed extension, bringing its total funding to about $12M.
