Blippy, the Twitter-like service that automatically publishes users' credit card transaction details online, has officially launched after completing a closed beta and revealed details of a $1.6 million round of funding.
Following a private beta with 5000 users, the site went public today, enabling users to link a card, as well as accounts at outlets like iTunes and Amazon, to the Blippy site, which then automatically provides a Twitter-style stream of purchases.
The transaction details include the name of the person, how much they spent and where. For Amazon and iTunes purchases it also shows what was bought. Others can then follow the stream and, as with Twitter, participants can choose to make their purchases private or public.
The funding round was led by Charles River Ventures with investments also coming from Sequoia Capital, Twitter CEO Evan Williams, Jason Calacanis, James Hong, Ariel Poler, and Ron Conway.
The firm's co-founder, Philip Kaplan, who has also put in money, says the funding will be used to help it through the next 12 to 18 months and "prove the model".