Commercetools raises $145M to power large enterprises’ online sales
Commercetools GmbH, a German startup providing e-commerce tools to enterprises, today disclosed that it has nabbed a $145 million investment from Insight Partners.
The post-money valuation wasn’t revealed in the official announcement. But a source described as close to the deal told TechCrunch that Commercetools is now worth around $300 million.
The investment opens a new chapter in the startup’s atypical path to market prominence. Commercetools launched in 2013, raised about $30 million and was shortly thereafter acquired by REWE Group, one of Europe’s largest retailers. The startup continued supplying its online selling tools to other merchants following the deal, to great success: Commercetools saw revenues increase by 110% annually while part of REWE, which is what ultimately led the retailer to spin it off.
The hope is that Commercetools will be able to achieve even greater growth as a standalone company. The startup sells an expansive suite of cloud services for handling the nitty-gritty aspects of running an e-commerce operation, such as managing catalog items and processing payments. These capabilities are paired with more specialized features such as an Alexa integration that enables retailers to make their storefronts accessible via smart speakers.
Commercetools provides its services through application programming interfaces that companies can embed into applications. The startup mainly targets firms with over $100 million in annual revenues.
There’s a long list of major brands that rely on Commercetools to power their sites. According to the startup, they include Audi AG, Bang & Olufsen AG, Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. and a number of U.S. telecommunications companies whose names it didn’t disclose.
Commercetools will use the $145 million from Insight Partners to keep expanding its customer base. The startup plans to expand its product suite, too, with more features for companies that sell to fellow businesses.
There’s a big market for the kind of cloud services Commercetools provides. Traditional retailers are aggressively building out their online presence in a bid to catch up with e-commerce market leader Amazon.com Inc., which is increasingly eating into brick-and-mortar sales. Online storefronts now account for nearly an eighth of retail activity in the U.S., according to Commerce Department estimates.
Commercetools isn’t the only player capitalizing on the trend. Microsoft Corp., which competes with Amazon in the cloud market, has landed big-ticket infrastructure and services deals with some of the e-commerce giant’s retail rivals.
Image: Pixabay
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