The Desire Company
Founded 2019 · 57 employees on LinkedIn · 3 known investors
The Desire Company produces expert-led, multi-asset video and content that brands use across marketing channels such as product detail pages, retail media networks, social ads, email, and in-store displays to drive purchase confidence and conversions. It matches products with vetted professionals through its ExpertMatch IQ system and a credential vetting process.
Also known as Desire Co. · The Desire Company
Founders & leadership
The Desire Company was founded in 2019 by Eric Sheinkop and Judith Sheinkop.
Investors · 3
Also in the syndicate · 2
Valuation · disclosed
Disclosed eventsSource: SEC prospectus filings, and round valuations the company or its investors disclosed — follow each entry's link for the claim.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026The Desire Company creates product education and review video content featuring verified industry experts, and distributes it across the points where shoppers encounter products: social feeds, product detail pages, email and SMS, connected TV advertising, retail media placements, and in-store displays. The company positions credentialed professionals — including chefs, dermatologists, nutritionists, veterinarians, makeup artists and athletes — as an alternative to social media influencers, with a stated aim of countering fake reviews and giving shoppers information rather than promotion.
Production is run as an end-to-end, concierge service, pairing brand products with experts drawn from a cross-disciplinary expert community that spanned 114 verticals as of mid-2024. In June 2024 the company introduced Retail RMEDI 360 (Retail Media Expert Distribution Ignitor), a platform for managing and distributing expert video content, generating shoppable QR codes for in-store use, and reporting video performance through an analytics dashboard. Published case material covers an expert review video used in a Sam's Club MAP activation for GhostBed, expert-led CTV ads and product-page videos featuring a dermatologist, and an analysis of how structured expert content affected an "Agentic Commerce Readiness" score for product pages.
Founding story
Founded by husband-and-wife team Judith and Eric Sheinkop, who met at The Coca-Cola Company, where Judith led Global Brand PR and Eric worked with the brand through his music licensing career. Observing that brands invested in visibility while qualified professionals with deep subject knowledge were overlooked for partnerships, they built a platform intended to let those experts participate in brand partnerships and monetize their knowledge. A third-party profile dates the founding to 2019 and lists Eric Sheinkop as Co-Founder and CEO — previously co-founder of music licensing platform Music Dealers — and Judith Levey Sheinkop as Co-Founder and COO, formerly Head of Global Brand PR at Coca-Cola.
Business model
Business-to-business service selling expert-led video content and distribution to brands, retailers and retail media networks; engagements begin with a strategy call and the company handles production end to end. One third-party profile characterizes the model as service-based B2B with revenue tied to commissions on sales driven by the review content, and notes licensing of expert imagery to enable scalable distribution.
A third-party case study describes a commission-based approach tied to product sales driven by the expert review videos, alongside licensing of expert imagery for broader content distribution, rather than a consumer subscription.
Traction
Reported results for more than 80 brands as of June 2024, with clients citing a 12x conversion boost, 62% increase in time on site and 25% growth in average order size; the company's site currently cites a 4.4x average sales lift, 25% AOV increase and 62% increased time on site. Named customers and references include Best Buy retail media, a Sam's Club MAP campaign for GhostBed, Sleep Crown and Ergo Impact.
Latest developments
Following the 2024 Series B and Retail RMEDI 360 launch, the company has published case material on expert-led CTV advertising, a Sam's Club MAP activation, and measurement of how structured expert content affects product-page readability for AI-driven or "agentic" commerce.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Describes itself as a leading provider of expert-driven product review videos and the only provider of authentic expert product review video, differentiating on credentialed experts rather than influencers. Third-party analysis places it in the retail media market, citing retail media's share of global advertising at 20.6% in 2024 and projected growth, and compares its content approach to MasterClass while noting its narrower product-review focus.
Use of verified, credentialed industry experts instead of social media influencers; end-to-end concierge production; multi-touchpoint distribution including retail media networks and in-store QR activation; and, per third-party reporting, withholding from experts which products carry commissions in order to preserve independence of the reviews.
Technology
Retail RMEDI 360, launched in 2024, supports embedding expert video across the consumer journey (social, product detail pages, email, SMS), generation of shoppable QR codes for in-store activation, and an analytics dashboard for video performance. The underlying asset is a curated, vetted expert network organized across industry verticals.
Go-to-market
Direct enterprise sales via inbound forms and booked strategy calls on the company website, supported by published case studies and customer testimonials; distribution partnerships with retailers and retail media networks, including work cited by a former Best Buy media commerce partnerships executive and a Sam's Club campaign activation.
Brands selling products online and through retail, retailers, and retail media networks seeking expert-led content for the shopping journey; the company also recruits experts as content contributors and frames shoppers as end beneficiaries.
Geography
Series B announcement was issued from Chicago and included comment from World Business Chicago; one third-party profile describes the company as Chicago-based while listing its headquarters as Atlanta, Georgia. Market focus described is U.S. retailers and retail media networks.
History
Per third-party reporting, the company was founded in 2019, raised $8 million in Series A funding in 2021 to expand production capabilities, and in 2024 closed a Series B round led by Cleveland Avenue at a $97 million valuation while launching the Retail RMEDI 360 platform. Early traction came from work with retailers including Best Buy, and offerings expanded over time to include how-to videos and expert-led classes.
Risks & controversies
The Series B announcement frames the business in the context of the Federal Trade Commission's heightened focus on transparent marketing practices and the proliferation of fake reviews. Performance figures cited across sources are self-reported or client-reported and vary between the 2024 announcement (12x conversion boost) and the company's current site (4.4x average sales lift). Source material also gives conflicting headquarters information (Chicago versus Atlanta).
Compiled by commissioned research from 6 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Competitors · 6
by search overlap
Companies competing with The Desire Company for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Timeline · 3
launches, deals, and filingsThe Desire Company concluded its Series B funding round, bringing its valuation to $97 million. The round was led by Cleveland Avenue LLC with support from Valor Siren Ventures, with proceeds earmarked for expanding the expert community and production capabilities to serve retail media network demand.
Debut of Retail RMEDI 360 (Retail Media Expert Distribution Ignitor), a platform for integrating expert product education across the shopper journey, including embedding expert video into social, product detail pages, email and SMS, shoppable in-store QR codes, and a video performance analytics dashboard.
Raised $8 million in Series A funding to expand production capabilities.
$8M source ↗
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
▸Research sources · 6
primary sources listed
- The Desire Companythedesirecompany.com · web
6 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does The Desire Company do?
- The Desire Company produces expert-led product review videos that brands and retail media networks use across the shopper journey.
- Who founded The Desire Company?
- The Desire Company was founded by Eric Sheinkop, Judith Sheinkop in 2019.
- Who are The Desire Company's investors?
- The Desire Company's investors include Cleveland Avenue.