Headless frontend builder for e-commerce shops Instant Commerce secures €2 million

Amsterdam-based Instant Commerce has raised €2 million in a pre-seed round. The commerce for Commerce is slated to be used to double the team size to some 40+ members, further develop the company’s technical offer, and build brand awareness. 

Jumping into the fray that is the headless commerce storefront builder landscape, Instant Commerce says that have something new to offer, offering brands the ability to quickly assemble highly functional headless webshops, all without the need for pesky technical expertise or expensive development teams, all thanks to its no-code approach.

“Consumer expectations of the functionality and services online retailers should offer has grown exponentially over the past few years. This race to make online storefronts more engaging has led to much higher costs, strained infrastructure, and a severe drain on resources,” Instant Commerce CEO Coen Van Hees told Tech.eu. “For many companies, it’s simply too costly to compete. This is the problem Instant Commerce solves. By making building and maintaining a headless storefront as simple and cost-effective as possible, we give power back to business owners.”

Founded in January of this year, Instant Commerce integrates with a number of popular platforms including Shopify, Storyblok, Algolia, and the startup counts over 30 customers including Bols, ID&T, Ekster, and Yaya.

Instant Commerce’s €2 million pre-seed round was provided by Brent Hoberman's firstminute capital with a number of angel investors including Dominik Angerer, CEO and founder Storyblok, Willem van Bergen, early engineer at Shopify, Eldar Tuvey, founder and CEO Wandera, Supercell co-founder and CEO Ilkka Paananen, Mikko Savolainen, director at Illusian Group Oy, Linda Fayne Levinson, chair of the board of Hertz, Jamie MacDonald, CEO at A2X, Stephen Weich, CEO Flaschenpost, Mike Weider, partner at Fundfire.co, Niklas Ott, managing partner DTC Ventures, Maximilian Fleitmann, serial entrepreneur, and Frederik Fleck, partner Richmond View Ventures all participating.

“We believe the future of web development and e-commerce is headless and have had a front-row seat in this category with our investments in Storyblok and Nuxt. However, the missing link has been a software layer to coordinate the ecosystem of APIs from the front-end that can be used by both non-technical users and developers. The Instant Commerce team has experienced this pain point directly having built a highly successful e-commerce Agency before working with major global brands,” commented firstminute Capital’s Sam Endacott. “Their first product - a no-code solution to help e-commerce teams go headless without technical expertise - is just the first step in what we think can be a major platform in facilitating the next wave of e-commerce growth.”