- Ecwid, a leading global software-as-a-service (SaaS) e-commerce company, announced it raised $42 million in funding led by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital and PeakSpan Capital
Ecwid — a leading global software-as-a-service (SaaS) e-commerce company — announced it raised $42 million in funding led by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital and PeakSpan Capital. This round of funding will be used in part to buy-out previous and early-stage investors, including Runa Capital and iTech Capital as well as fueling aggressive growth including an expected doubling of headcount. In connection with the funding, PeakSpan Capital Co-Founder and Managing Partner Phil Dur and Pete Chung Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital managing director are joining the board of directors.
The COVID-19 global health crisis has been forcing merchants to close physical storefronts and adapt to a new world of commerce and customer interactions. And as a result, Ecwid has seen a surge in adoption of their free and easy-to-use solution and new customer sign-ups have tripled as merchants turn to Ecwid to transition their businesses online to survive during this time of uncertainty. The transaction volume amongst Ecwid’s hundreds-of-thousands of active customers increased by more than 50% from April to March alone.
Ecwid is known for providing online selling solutions for small businesses and enables them to establish a digital storefront in a matter of hours. And over the past year, Ecwid has seen strong momentum due to its continued product innovation, expansion of their global partner ecosystem, and a powerful platform that customers consider as one of the easiest-to-use in the industry.
Over the past decade, Ecwid steadily built an expanding set of tools and signed up more than 1.5 million small businesses in over 175 countries and supporting 54 languages. And Ecwid has seen significant growth over the past two years with new customer sign-ups doubling in 2019 and jumping another 300% this quarter compared to the same time in 2019.
Launched in 2009, Ecwid’s e-commerce solution was built to enable businesses to quickly and easily create a new online store or add shopping capabilities to an existing website at no cost. And the platform offers merchants a comprehensive set of e-commerce tools, including access to key marketplaces, including Amazon and Google, access to a range of point-of-sales solutions, and the ability to advertise and sell on social media channels such as Instagram and Facebook.
Key Quotes:
“High costs and complex technology have traditionally prevented the majority of small businesses from shifting their brick-and-mortar presence to digital. Ecwid is at the forefront of empowering small businesses to meet those challenges head-on. The support early on from Runa Capital as we spun Ecwid out of a previous e-commerce company, X-Cart, played a massive role in the expansion of our partner channels, and iTech Capital was an important player in funding further growth. The new wave of funding gives us the resources and flexibility to accelerate the evolution of an e-commerce platform and to further expand internationally. We are playing an important role in enabling small businesses to survive, thrive and grow in this new Covid-19 world.”
– Ruslan Fazlyev, Founder and CEO of Ecwid
“Covid-19 is reinforcing what we already knew: e-commerce is vital, and it’s available to even the smallest of merchants now with Ecwid’s free tools that even novice Internet users can adopt quickly. We have been watching Ecwid for many years.The company’s impressive capital efficiency and very strong long-term market opportunity made it an easy decision for us to partner with them during this next phase of growth.”
– Phil Dur of PeakSpan Capital
“Ecwid is truly helping its customers make the most of e-commerce enablement at a time when their traditional retail businesses have been disrupted so dramatically. Ruslan is an e-commerce visionary who has built a team and beloved solution that allows any mom-and-pop shop to embrace the online world, dramatically expanding their revenue and market potential.”
– Pete Chung of Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital
“We partnered with Ecwid in 2011 when the company reached their hundred thousand merchant milestone and operated primarily out of Russia. Today, Ecwid is one of the leading e-commerce platforms. powering over 1.5 million merchants across the globe and now headquartered in California. The founders and the team have transformed the company into a global leader, and we are proud of our work and collaboration to get them to this point.”
– Dmitry Chikhachev, co-founder and Managing Partner at Runa Capital
“After five years of joint effort growing a truly international player, I am happy to transfer Ecwid to the reliable hands of PeakSpan Capital and Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital. They will help Ruslan and his team move forward in today’s challenging times. I am proud of iTech’s ability to find and support talented founders in their ambitious desire to scale globally. Ecwid is a great example in this respect.”
– Gleb Davidyuk, co-founder and Managing Partner of iTech Capital
