Then: Before there was Pinterest, there was Tote, an ecommerce and social networking website that let people browse different retailers. Tote also sent out alerts when the items users wanted went on sale.
Now: According to Forbes, the people behind Tote realized that its users liked to build and share "collections" of items they liked, so Tote pivoted to Pinterest, the pinboard social network. Pinterest has raised $762.5 million in seven rounds from investors like Andreessen Horowitz, First Round Capital, and Bessemer Venture Partners.