Commercetools, a German-based e-commerce API tool provider, announced raising a $140 million (€119 million) Series C led by Accel, according to a press release.
The company says it will use the funding to continue organic expansion in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific through product development and sales. It also plans to make strategic acquisitions to help it scale and consolidate its e-commerce technology.
The funding is also expected to help extend commercetools’ partner ecosystem and third-party channel relationships and technology integrations.
Previous investors Insight Partners and REWE Group participated in the latest round. Commercetools has raised over $300 million, including a $145 million private equity round led by Insight in October 2019.
The funding round also highlights a huge spike in valuation from $300 million in 2019 to its current $1.9 billion valuation. Commercetools has received accolades in the meantime, winning Google’s Cloud Industry Solution 2020 Partner of the Year.
Background
Commercetools provides a large number of e-commerce tools to clients and customers, offering API-driven services such as customized payments, check-outs, social commerce and marketplaces which can be integrated separately or together into business’ websites and platforms.
Founded in 2006, API provider mostly targets larger retailers who are trying to meet specific e-commerce needs for their respective platforms, with CEO Dick Hoerig telling TechCrunch the company powers over $10 billion in sales for business’ including Audi, AT&T, Danone, Tiffany & Co. and John Lewis.
“Our main focus is the retailer with more than $100 million in gross merchandise value. This is when it becomes interesting,” Hoerig told TechCrunch.
Despite a focus on larger companies, Hoerig says Commercetools is beginning to address demand from smaller companies looking to handle fast growth associated with the rise of digital payments and retail.
“So we also sometimes have customers that start at $5 million in GMV and quickly go to $50 million. With that scale, they also have specific requirements, so the lines get a bit blurry,” he said.
“The chance to invest in a fast-growing, innovative commerce platform was one we could not pass up. Commercetools provides e-commerce enterprises the technology necessary to capture revenue in the rapidly growing global e-commerce market,” Accel partner Ping Li stated in the release.
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