Sydney-founded startup success story BigCommerce has secured a further $41 million ($US30 million) in funding as it continues to rapidly grow around the world.
The cash injection was led by GGV, one of Silicon Valley’s biggest VC firms, with existing investors including the likes of General Catalyst and Telstra Ventures also participating.
The now US-based tech company, which has raised more than $US155 million in total, will use the latest round to continue global expansions and help BigCommerce to take advantage of current ecommerce trends, CEO Brent Bellm says.
“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 midmarket,” he says.
“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.
The large round is made even more impressive considering the hostile tech funding environment in the US, and Bellm told the Australian Financial Review that the reduction in funding has made the best stand out.
“This is not an easy market environment in which to raise money…only the best of the best are currently getting support,” Bellm said.
GGV Capital managing partner Jeff Richards will be joining the company’s board of directors as part of the investment, and says BigCommerce still has a big market to conquer.
“We believe we are still in the early innings of a massive global shift from offline to online retail, with mobile and younger demographics driving the trend,” Richards says.
“BigCommerce and its competitors have brought hundreds of thousands of merchants online in the past few years, but there are millions left to come online.”
BigCommerce was founded in Sydney in 2009 by Mitchell Harper and Eddie Machaalani and has since become a darling of the Australia tech sector.
It’s another large investment for an Australian company in 2016, which has been a strong year for later-stage funding.
Tradie marketplace Oneflare recently closed a $15 million strategic investment from Fairfax, while Unlockd scored the same amount to aggressively expand internationally.
Earlier this year online wine retailer Vinomofo secured a $20 million round while US-based Bugcrowd locked in a $20 million investment.
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Denham Sadler is a former editor of StartupSmart. He was previously a journalist at the publication and has worked as a freelancer for the Guardian, the Saturday Paper and the ABC. In his spare time he likes puns and jaffles.
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