Top 10: E-commerce software and platforms

2023. Staytuned bags $34M to build Salesforce suite for e-commerce



To further develop its software suite for e-commerce brands, Staytuned Digital has secured $34 million in funding. The company aims to create a comprehensive suite of software, similar to Salesforce, specifically designed for e-commerce stores. Given the massive shift towards emerging e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, Staytuned Digital is creating software that revolves around the Shopify ecosystem. The company concentrates on Shopify merchants and procures and develops e-commerce applications. It has already acquired seven applications and boasts a customer base of over 28,000.


2022. Alloy Automation raises $20M to scale its e-commerce automation tech



Alloy Automation, a startup specializing in integrating various e-commerce tools, has successfully concluded a Series A funding round, raising $20 million. Alloy leverages its automation technology, which enables the seamless connection of different applications, empowering companies to establish automated workflows. The startup's specific focus on the e-commerce market stems from early customer demand and recognition of the sector's potential. Presently, Alloy positions itself as a control panel or operating system for coordinating e-commerce activities across multiple applications. By offering this comprehensive solution, Alloy aims to streamline and enhance the coordination of e-commerce operations for businesses.

2021. E-commerce-as-a-service platform Cart.com picks up $98M



Cart.com, a leading provider of comprehensive e-commerce solutions, has recently secured an impressive $98 million in a Series B funding round. The company offers a wide range of software, services, and infrastructure to empower businesses in scaling their online operations. By combining the strengths of direct-to-consumer selling on popular marketplaces such as Amazon and Shopify, Cart.com aims to deliver significant value to brands. Introducing the concept of "e-commerce-as-a-service," the company brings together a unified platform that encompasses various essential business tools, including storefront software, marketing capabilities, fulfillment services, secure payment solutions, and efficient customer service. Through this innovative approach, Cart.com streamlines and enhances the e-commerce experience for businesses across the board.


2021. Alloy raises $4M to build out its e-commerce automation service



Alloy Automation, a startup specializing in e-commerce automation, has recently concluded a $5 million funding round. Alloy's technology facilitates the seamless integration of various services for e-commerce businesses, enabling automation of shipping, marketing, analytics, and other essential tasks. As an example, Alloy allows customers to connect SMS functionality with fulfillment tools. This integration empowers small e-commerce companies to automatically send text notifications to customers when their orders are shipped. By streamlining and automating these processes, Alloy Automation enhances operational efficiency and customer experience within the e-commerce sector.


2021. E-commerce optimization startup Tradeswell raises $15.5M



Xentral, a German startup specializing in enterprise resource planning software, has recently secured $20 million in Series A funding. The company's comprehensive platform caters to the back-office needs of online small businesses, encompassing functions such as order and warehouse management, packaging, fulfillment, accounting, and sales management. While Xentral boasts a customer base of 1,000 businesses primarily in Germany, including prominent direct-to-consumer brands like YFood, KoRo, the Nu Company, and Flyeralarm, its challenge lies in expanding its reach to attract more businesses and demonstrate the value of its provided tools. Competition in the market segment of developing ERP solutions for small businesses, which includes players like Sage, NetSuite, and Acumatica, further intensifies the landscape.


2021. Headless e-commerce platform Nacelle raises $18M



Nacelle, a startup specializing in e-commerce infrastructure, has successfully raised $18 million in a Series A funding round. The company aims to simplify the backend operations of e-commerce websites through its "headless" platform, which revolutionizes the interaction between the front end and back end of websites. Nacelle asserts that its technology enhances performance, scalability, and cost efficiency, while providing developers with a more streamlined experience. The majority of the company's customer base comprises small- to medium-sized e-commerce sites.


2020. Malomo raises $2.8 million to turn order tracking into a branded customer experience



Malomo, a platform designed to transform order-tracking services into customized customer experiences for small businesses, has recently secured $2.8M in funding. By seamlessly integrating with the Shopify platform, Malomo enables businesses to effortlessly generate branded tracking pages tailored to each brand. These tracking pages serve as dedicated landing pages for brands, functioning as valuable marketing assets. Malomo's strategic approach involves expanding its integrations with other tools utilized by merchants, thus facilitating the creation of immersive experiences that leverage these tools.


2020. VTEX raises $225M for e-commerce solutions aimed at retailers and brands



VTEX, a company specializing in e-commerce solutions and strategies, has secured $225 million in new funding, resulting in a post-money valuation of $1.7 billion. VTEX collaborates with renowned retailers such as Walmart and prominent consumer brands like AB InBev, Motorola, Stanley Black & Decker, Sony, Whirlpool, Coca-Cola, and Nestlé. The company often replaces products offered by competitors like SAP, Shopify, and Magento, providing brands and businesses with an alternative route to market that doesn't rely on platforms like Amazon. VTEX's expertise encompasses the creation of marketplaces for retailers, development of new e-commerce interfaces to facilitate seamless supply to both online and offline retailers, as well as direct-to-customer sales. Additionally, VTEX pioneers innovative methods for ordering products and arranging deliveries through third-party services. To date, VTEX has successfully built approximately 200 marketplaces for its clients.


2020. E-commerce platform Whitebox raises $18M



Whitebox, a startup specializing in e-commerce logistics and fulfillment for numerous brands, has secured $18 million in Series B funding. Whitebox offers a comprehensive platform solution designed to help brands and manufacturers increase sales and streamline costs. With our cutting-edge technology and expertise in e-commerce marketplaces and fulfillment, businesses can effectively sell and distribute products to customers worldwide. Our team has developed a technology platform that not only enhances the tools and insights necessary for brands to manage their sales and fulfillment processes seamlessly but also simplifies the complexities associated with online marketplaces, thereby empowering the broader e-commerce economy.


2020. Moteefe, the e-commerce platform for on-demand merchandise, raises $5M



Moteefe, an e-commerce platform specializing in on-demand production of merchandise, has recently secured $5 million in Series A funding. Moteefe offers a comprehensive technology solution that caters to entrepreneurs, influencers, and (micro) retailers who seek to design, create, and sell personalized products, including printed t-shirts and engraved jewelry. The platform empowers brands to design their merchandise and facilitate sales through their own white-labeled Moteefe store or by leveraging their own website, application, or other marketing channels. Moteefe serves as an end-to-end solution, providing a seamless experience for users throughout the entire merchandise creation and sales process.


2019. Commercetools raises $145M for Shopify-style e-commerce APIs for large enterprises



Commercetools, a German startup that specializes in offering a comprehensive set of APIs to support e-commerce sales and related functionalities for large enterprises, has secured a significant investment of $145 million. This funding coincides with commercetools' separation from REWE, a German retail and tourist services giant that acquired the startup back in 2015. While Shopify, during its earlier stages as a private company, primarily concentrated on delivering e-commerce tools through APIs to smaller and medium-sized clients, it has since expanded to serve around 800,000 customers. On the other hand, Commercetools focuses more on businesses with annual revenues surpassing $100 million, as highlighted by Hoerig.


2019. Zoho Commerce Plus - the operating system for your commerce business



Zoho has unveiled Zoho Commerce Plus, an all-in-one integrated platform designed to support every aspect of your e-commerce business, from building and promoting to managing and expanding. This comprehensive solution enables you to establish a professional online store without the need for any coding skills. With Zoho's intuitive drag-and-drop store builder, you can create a personalized customer experience that aligns with your brand, utilizing a variety of customizable templates. Furthermore, Zoho Commerce Plus ensures seamless order fulfillment optimization by providing you with all the necessary information. It offers a unified interface for managing orders from various channels, multiple warehouses, and shipping carriers. Leveraging the power of advanced targeting tools, Commerce Plus enables you to tailor your promotions based on trends, customer behavior, location, traffic sources, and even local weather data. With such precision, you can direct your marketing efforts down to the individual buyer, maximizing their engagement and satisfaction.


2019. Mailchimp acquired e-commerce platform LemonStand and broke up with Shopify



Mailchimp has made the decision to discontinue its app that allowed users to utilize their Shopify data for creating targeted email campaigns. This move came after disagreements arose between the two companies regarding the sharing of customer data. Interestingly, prior to parting ways with Shopify, Mailchimp quietly acquired LemonStand, a smaller competitor of the e-commerce platform. This acquisition was aimed at enhancing Mailchimp's platform by incorporating more integrated e-commerce features. It serves as an indication of the growing importance of Mailchimp's e-commerce business. In the past year, Mailchimp collaborated with Square to introduce shoppable landing pages, showcasing the company's dedication to developing native e-commerce functionalities. While Mailchimp continues to expand its platform's e-commerce capabilities, it remains open to collaborating with third-party providers (excluding Shopify, the largest among them) to offer additional functionality to its users.


2018. Weebly brings more e-commerce features to mobile



Website builder Weebly has introduced several new e-commerce features for their mobile app. These features enable users to perform various tasks directly from their smartphones, such as shipping and printing labels, responding to customer inquiries through embedded Facebook Messenger on Weebly sites, approving customer reviews, creating customized coupon codes, and managing all aspects of their online store, including product listings and pricing. The company expressed its vision for transforming the mobile phone into "the new back office" in a blog post.


2018. Adobe acquires Magento CMS



Adobe has announced its acquisition of the online store builder Magento for a sum of $1.68 billion. This strategic purchase fills a crucial gap in Adobe's portfolio by providing an e-commerce platform that caters to both B2B and B2C contexts. The integration of Magento into Adobe's Experience Cloud is expected to be seamless and further strengthens Adobe's ability to compete with cloud service providers such as Salesforce, SAP, and IBM, who already offer their own marketing, sales, and service solutions. While Magento has primarily focused on serving small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), Adobe's target audience is clearly the enterprise market. Comparing Adobe's move with other players in the industry, such as Salesforce acquiring Demandware, IBM acquiring WebSphere Commerce, and SAP acquiring Hybris, it is evident that Adobe's decision to acquire Magento was driven by selecting the best available option to meet their enterprise-focused goals.


2018. Square acquired website builder Weebly



Square, renowned for its payment software, has announced its acquisition of Weebly for a sum of $365 million. Weebly specializes in providing user-friendly website-building tools primarily tailored for small businesses and e-commerce companies. The company has successfully secured $35.7 million in funding. Square's objective in acquiring Weebly is to establish a unified solution that caters to entrepreneurs seeking to establish a robust online and offline business presence. This strategic move will also facilitate Square's global expansion, given that 40 percent of Weebly's 625,000 paid subscribers are based outside of the United States.


2018. BigCommerce raised $64 million



BigCommerce, an e-commerce service utilized by renowned brands such as Sony, Toyota, and over 60,000 other merchants, has successfully raised $64 million to expedite its business growth. BigCommerce offers its customers a comprehensive template to launch websites that include efficient shipping and payment tracking features. Additionally, it simplifies cross-selling on popular platforms like Amazon, eBay, and Facebook. The company asserts that it can assist e-tailers in reducing costs by up to 80 percent. Recently, BigCommerce has introduced an integration with Instagram, enabling seamless in-app purchasing for consumers. Furthermore, the company has established partnerships with leading entities such as PayPal and Google, and intends to capitalize on cross-platform opportunities by intensifying its efforts in that regard.


2018. Salesforce acquires enterprise e-commerce startup CloudCraze



Salesforce has announced its acquisition of CloudCraze, an enterprise e-commerce solution that operates on Salesforce's cloud-based customer relationship management platform. This acquisition allows Salesforce and its customers to tap into the growing trend of digital commerce, enabling businesses to seamlessly browse and make online purchases, mirroring the convenience experienced by consumers. CloudCraze marks Salesforce's second acquisition this year, following the acquisition of Attic Labs in January.


2017. BigCommerce expands relationship with PayPal



BigCommerce has announced an expanded collaboration with PayPal, aimed at providing businesses with a comprehensive suite of products and services to enhance sales opportunities. As of today, BigCommerce customers will enjoy increased capabilities to offer flexible consumer financing options through PayPal Credit, access innovative business financing via PayPal Working Capital, and gain valuable insights into their shoppers through the exclusive PayPal Marketing Solutions app, recently launched for BigCommerce customers. Since 2013, BigCommerce and PayPal have been trusted partners, working together to support merchants in growing their businesses through a comprehensive payment solution. BigCommerce's seamless integration with PayPal, powered by Braintree, enables business owners to effortlessly accept credit and debit cards, as well as offer the convenience of PayPal as a payment option. With this enhanced collaboration, BigCommerce customers can now leverage the power of PayPal's robust suite of products and services, empowering them to attract more customers, increase conversions, and optimize their overall sales performance. By providing flexible financing options, access to business financing, and valuable shopper insights, BigCommerce and PayPal are equipping businesses with the tools they need to thrive in the competitive ecommerce landscape.


2017. Shopify integrates with UPS



UPS is now available as a fresh choice in Shopify Shipping, enabling Shopify merchants based in the United States to provide an exceptional delivery experience akin to that of large-scale retailers. By utilizing UPS in conjunction with Shopify Shipping, you can take advantage of competitive rates with discounts of up to 52% off the standard rates, perfectly timed for the holiday season. Regardless of the size of your business, you now have the ability to access UPS' shipping options with guaranteed delivery dates at rates that lead the industry. Additionally, UPS extends exclusive discounted rates to Shopify merchants, particularly for heavier packages. During the holiday period, Shopify will cover any peak surcharges on UPS Ground shipments.


2016. E-commerce platform BloomReach acquired Hippo CMS



BloomReach, the e-commerce personalization platform powered by artificial intelligence, has completed the acquisition of Hippo, a provider of open-source enterprise content management solutions. Through this strategic partnership, BloomReach aims to offer a unified personalization platform that delivers highly relevant and tailored experiences to consumers while driving increased profitability for businesses. Over the years, Hippo has evolved from being solely focused on web content management to becoming a comprehensive digital experience and performance platform that analyzes both visitor and anonymous user data. By integrating BloomReach's machine-learning engine with Hippo's Java-based CMS technology, the combined solution will harness data and algorithmic intelligence to create personalized digital experiences for users.


2015. Customer review software Yotpo raised $15 million



Yotpo, a platform specializing in original content marketing for businesses, has successfully concluded a funding round, raising $15 million. This latest investment brings the total funding for the company to $30 million. Upon registration with Yotpo, businesses benefit from data-driven insights that help identify the most effective strategies to encourage users to generate original content. For instance, Yotpo has gained valuable knowledge on the ideal timing and approach to engage specific customers after a purchase, maximizing the chances of receiving a review. An interesting finding is that customers who purchase electronics typically take four times longer to write a product review compared to those purchasing fashion items. Leveraging such analytics, Yotpo claims to provide customers with up to 10 times more user-generated content compared to its competitors. The platform has contributed to an additional $50 million in revenue for its customers over the past year.


2013. WebAsyst turns into SaaS e-commerce platform



WebAsyst is a well-established SaaS service that has been in existence for a decade. Initially conceived as a collaboration tool for managing files, tasks, and projects, its most notable success has been achieved through its online store module, WebAsyst Shop-Script. Consequently, e-commerce has become the central focus of the service. Recently, the platform expanded to include website creation tools while still providing task lists and a contact database for collaboration purposes. However, the developers didn't stop there and introduced a platform that enables the integration of custom apps into WebAsyst. This platform incorporates a PHP framework, API, and an app store. As a result, you have the opportunity to develop an app tailored to your company's needs. Moreover, if your app proves valuable to other businesses, you can sell it directly within the WebAsyst ecosystem. In addition to apps, the store offers plugins for integration and a variety of templates/themes for online stores and websites.