Australia-founded BigCommerce raises $30m round
BigCommerce, an e-commerce software provider founded in Australia but now based in the US, has raised a $30 million Series E round led by GGV Capital. It has now received more than $155 million in funding.
Existing investors including General Catalyst, Revolution Growth, SoftBank Capital, Tenaya, Split Rock, Telstra Ventures and American Express Ventures took part in the latest round as well. Stephen Schambach, founder and former chairman of Demandware, another e-commerce software platform, also participated.
The company was set up in Sydney 13 years ago by Eddie Machaalani and Mitchell Harper as Interspire, a web-based software developer. In 2009, it was renamed BigCommerce and transitioned into a software-as-a-service (Saas) provider for e-commerce - a one-stop-shop for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) looking to launch, promote, manage and scale online stores.
According to a BigCommerce release, more than $9 billion in sales have been processed through the platform. The company did not specify how many clients use its services - thousands of merchants set up shop each month - although when the Series D round closed in late 2014, there were said to be more than 55,000 customers. A total of 1,000 partners offer software and services to these clients through the BigCommerce Marketplace.
In addition to its core SME market, the company increasingly caters to category-leading companies - including Camelbak and Toyota - and mid-market players by providing additional services.
"BigCommerce is benefitting from the retail industry shifting online, with every small, mid-sized and large merchant in the world seeking to gain a piece of the $1 trillion ecommerce market," said Brent Bellm, CEO of BigCommerce. "This new financing follows on the successful launch of several new products, our partnerships with major players in ecommerce like eBay and Square, and our successful expansion into the mid-market."
The company cited research by Morgan Stanley that put the e-commerce software platform addressable market at more than $10 billion annually with 10 million merchants in Western markets and 46 million globally. Meanwhile, Gartner estimates that the market for cloud e-commerce enablement software and services reached $7.7 billion in 2015, and will grow to $10 billion in 2018.
General Catalyst provided $15 million in Series A funding to BigCommerce in 2011 and a second round of $20 million the following year. Revolution Growth invested $40 million in July 2013 and then SoftBank Capital, Telstra Ventures and American Express led a Series D worth $50 million in November 2014.
During 2015, Bellm - formerly COO of online travel platform Homeaway - joined the company and two new offices were opened to house larger product and engineering teams. BigCommerce now has two locations in Austin and an expanded presence in San Francisco, plus a base in Sydney.
More on Australasia
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.