Providing “Amazon-level” reach and instant access to over 200 marketplaces, ChannelEngine raises $50 million in Atomico-led round

Dutch online marketplace integration platform ChannelEngine has raised $50 million in a Series B funding round. The company's service taps into the growing e-commerce trend of brands selling directly to consumers via marketplaces including Zalando and Amazon and provides them with one centralised location to manage, orchestrate, and automate a vast number of processes. 

The new capital will be used to further develop the company’s product with the end goal of assembling the world’s largest e-commerce network and operating platform. Since 2016, the firm has taken on only $57.8 million in funding.

Founded by Jorrit Steinz, whose e-commerce experience dates back some 20+ years, it would appear as though ChannelEngine might be the David to take on the industry's Goliaths. 

Spotting the trend and need for ever more efficient e-commerce operations, coupled with a correct prediction that brands would increasingly engage directly with consumers, it might be easy to view ChannelEngine as the new middleman.

On the dark side of the moon, yes, perhaps, but upon stepping out into the light, what the Leiden-based startup is offering is a sweeping array of tools such as automated repricing, content, stock, and order management services, all designed to simplify and magnify the bottom line.

Perhaps a better way to think of ChannelEngine is like so: there used to be these things called 'shopping malls'. They served their purpose for quite some time, and  I'd wager a fair number of us got up to some sort of no good in them, but I digress.

Traditionally, a retailer would launch store after store at an unending chain of malls in order to hawk their wares, at tremendous setup and operating costs. Now imagine that same brand could launch all the stores at all the malls, across the world, in one go? That's ChannelEngine.

Since closing a $6.1 million Series A round in late January of last year, ChannelEngine has more than doubled revenues, now serving over 450 clients, tripled to headcount to a now healthy 140 person team, and opened offices in Munich, Dubai, Singapore, Melbourne, and New York.

Now counting the facilitation of more than 6 million products ChannelEngine's client roster of 8,100 brands includes household names such as Bugaboo, Staples, JBL, Polaroid, Hunkemöller, Brabantia, Reckitt Benckiser, Bosch, JDE, Electrolux, Philips Domestic Appliances, Signify, Diadora, Glanbia, O'Neill, and Safavieh have all lined up to lay their cash down.

ChannelEngine’s $50 million Series B round was led by Atomico, with participation from General Catalyst, and existing backers Inkef and Airbridge Equity Partners. As an additional vote of confidence, Demandware (Salesforce), Intershop, and NewStore serial e-commerce founder Stephan Schambach also participated as an angel investor in the round.

“The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically accelerated the adoption of e-commerce, which now accounts for 20% of all global retail sales. The global e-commerce market is expected to grow by over $500 billion between 2022 and 2023 alone,” said Atomico Principal Luca Eisenstecken. “By building the largest e-commerce operating platform, ChannelEngine is set to capitalize on this opportunity by giving brands and retailers instant access to the global marketplace.”