Cloud software platform, Brightpearl, recently announced raising $8 million in Series B financing co-led by seed investors Eden Ventures and Notion Capital. They plan to use the funding to invest in continued enhancements to its industry-leading Commerce Acceleration Platform, and to expand sales in North America and the UK.
“Brightpearl has an exciting opportunity to be a market leader in the small to medium-sized market, where significant customer pain is addressed by Brightpearl’s product,” said Chris Tottman, co-founder of Notion Capital and a director of Brightpearl. “Brightpearl is now well funded, building a world-class team, driving the product forward and rapidly expanding brand awareness.”
Brightpearl integrates orders, inventory and customer data across multiple retail channels, allowing them to grow their businesses. With Brightpearl’s Commerce Acceleration platform, multi-channel retailers such as eBay, Shopify and Amazon can be confident their core data and processes are under control, saving time, money and creating a reliable foundation to rapid growth.
“We believe Commerce Acceleration software for small to medium businesses is amulti-billion dollar global opportunity,” said Charles Grimsdale, Eden Ventures co-founder and director of Brightpearl. “Brightpearl dominates this market with the ideal combination of technology, team and traction. We’ve seen customers experience growth rates of 40%-50% by adding new sales channels on the Brightpearl platform vs. single-digit growth for the overall retail sector.”
The company also expanded their Senior Management team with Andy Young as chief marketing officer, and Adam Smith as senior vice president of finance and operations. Young joined the team in early 2013 after leading marketing for Inuti’s Turbo Tax brand, and being a key member of the management team increasing Turbo Tax revenues by 40% in just three years. He was also the vice president of web marketing for Adobe Systems, and chief marketing officer for Shutterfly with a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
“I’ve had the good fortune to help build some of the world’s leading brands,” said Andy Young. “Brightpearl has all the ingredients to build a multi-billion dollar brand; and I’m excited to help make our vision a reality.”
With over 25 years of experience in retail, direct channels and e-commerce, in the US, Asia and Europe, Smith holds a B.S. from the London School of Economics and is a qualified treasurer and qualified chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen. He was e-commerce Development Director for Dixons Stores Group, helping to lead the team that took Sit-up Limited from startup to $400 million sales in just five years.
“I was originally drawn to Brightpearl while working for a retailer experiencing all of the headaches of rapid growth in multiple channels,” said Adam Smith. “Now, I look forward to contributing to Brightpearl’s meteoric growth and success in attracting retail customers in an enormous and dynamic market.”
By Lolita A. Alford