UK and US-based technology company Brightpearl has raised $10 million (£6 million) of new growth capital to fund investment in its Commerce Acceleration Platform.
Set up by Chris Tanner in 2006, Brightpearl provides a cloud software service for managing orders, inventory, customer data, accounting and reporting aimed at multi-channel retailers.
The business was conceived following frustrations Tanner experience when running his previous business, skateboard company Lush Longboards. Not wanting to overspend on a business software package, Tanner began to build his own version and then sold Lush Longboards to focus on the technology venture alongside co-founder Andrew Mulvenna.
Participating in the venture capital round are existing backers Notion Capital and Eden Ventures alongside new investors MMC Ventures.
Salman Malik, CEO of Brightpearl, says, ‘Brightpearl is at an exciting inflection point, and we are laying the groundwork for massive growth and scale.
‘Our business has been doubling; with more than 1,300 retailers on our platform, we’ve developed a deep understanding of customer needs, have a clear vision for platform enhancements and a strategy in place for optimising our go-to-market initiatives.’
Brightpearl has new raised $24.5 million of private sector investment, across four rounds dating back to 2010. An angel funding round then was followed by a Series A transaction worth $5 million in 2011 and then a 2013 Series B deal bringing in $8 million.
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Headquartered in Bristol, Brightpearl opened San Francisco offices in 2011 and now has a total staff count of 88. According to the business, since 2011 in excess of $1.3 billion in gross merchandise value has been processed by its platform and revenue has been doubling each year. The business also counts former Dragons’ Den investor Doug Richard as a board director.
Rory Stirling, partner at MMC Ventures, adds, ‘We believe Brightpearl addresses a significant unmet need in a large and growing market.
‘The team have developed an elegant cloud solution, which has become a mission critical tool enabling thousands of successful retail businesses.’
