Powering Online Purchases, Bold Commerce Bags $27M Series B

Retailers and brands aim to break through the clutter of all of the messaging out there in e-commerce. Bold Commerce is developing technology so they can do just that.

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The e-commerce technology company, with a presence in both Austin and Winnipeg, currently works with more than 90,000 brands in over 170 countries. Its suite of tools includes checkout, subscriptions and price rules for both retailers targeting multiple platforms and direct-to-consumer brands, allowing them to transact with customers wherever they interact with the brand.

“We see so much around search and personalization, but not transaction–no one is attacking that space,” Yvan Boisjoli, co-founder and CEO of Bold Commerce, told Crunchbase News. “Usually checkouts are locked down, you have to follow the platform, but we are trying to grow exponentially, and looking at how to unify all of the experiences and solve for all of the experiences.”

Powering that mission is $27 million in new Series B funding. OMERS Ventures1 led the round and was joined by existing investors Whitecap Venture Partners and Round13 Capital.

Including this latest investment, the company’s total equity funding is $44 million since being founded in 2012. That includes a $16.5 million Series A round in 2019 led by Whitecap and Round13, according to Crunchbase News. Prior to the Series A, the company was bootstrapped, Boisjoli said.

The funding will enable the company to continue to improve its technology as well as invest in its operations and partner marketplace, Boisjoli said.

Beyond technological advances, Bold Commerce will be investing in its operations and expanding its partner network into a marketplace of plug-ins and pre-built integrations. The company recently hired Odus (Boogie) Wittenburg as chief operating officer. He previously led the Americas business unit at Rackspace.

“Hiring a COO was the last piece of the puzzle for our executive team,” Boisjoli said. “We will now build up our operations and processes to scale and support clients. One of those is moving into the enterprise space, and we want to properly support those clients.”

In addition, Bold Commerce is averaging 50 percent growth year over year and intends to hire more than 100 new team members in Austin, Winnipeg and across North America in the areas of software engineering, sales, marketing and partnership roles.

The company currently works with more than 90,000 brands in over 170 countries, such as Staples, where Bold Commerce helped roll out sales via Shopify and other marketplaces, as well as curbside and “buy online, pick up in the store” processes. It is also working with Harry Rosen on commercetools and transacting orders and recommendations on products resulting from the company’s clothing advisers’ interaction with consumers.

As part of the investment, OMERS Partner Laura Lenz will join Bold Commerce’s board of directors. She was introduced to the company during its Series A and put it on her radar for the next stage.

“Bold Commerce was providing an infrastructure layer that was an interesting market trend,” Lenz said in an interview. “It is one of the companies that benefited from the pandemic, and enables brands and retailers to be responsive to consumer behavior. I’m interfacing with the brand on my phone, but also through social media, texting and messaging, so why do we have to make a purchase on a landing page? Bold Commerce’s vision is to connect with the customer wherever that is.”

Illustration: iStock