Poland’s Vue Storefront, a startup that helps ecommerce platforms build better and more customer-friendly frontends, has raised €20m in additional Series A funding led by a UK VC Felix Capital.
What does Vue Storefront do?
Vue Storefront was launched in 2021 and provides a frontend solution for ecommerce platforms. Its technology helps developers building ecommerce platforms for all sorts of retail to mix and match various third-party consumer-facing elements such as content management systems, payment systems and search providers, on top of their existing backend.
As a result, an eshop can continue to operate on its old backend solution while creating a better frontend experience for its customers — essentially a more functional and visually appealing digital shop window.
“We are always saying that you should start with the frontend because the frontend is where you make your money,” says CEO and cofounder Patrick Friday. “Changing the backend is not going to make you sell more: it can improve your processes, it can improve your operations. This is what we are really pushing to the market, this kind of shift in the mindset.”
The startup’s tool is currently used by more than 2,000 online stores around the world, including big brands like German ecommerce store Berlin Brands Group, Swiss luxury watchmaker Zenith and French fashion brand Zadig & Voltaire. It says more than a half of its pipeline comes from the US.
The Warsaw-headquartered company now employs 100 people in 10 countries.
What’s the market like?
Vue Storefront has raised its additional money 18 months after it secured an initial $17.4m in Series A funding. But Friday says it was more difficult this time around.
“We raised our [initial] Series A without even realising that we were in the middle of fundraising. I just started answering emails from investors… sometimes they would throw a term sheet on us after two calls, and I was like: ‘This is insane. I don't even know those guys',” he says.
“Now, a lot of investors were looking heavily on the bank part, they were looking at the revenue, the potential of the market. They were much more careful. And the whole process was much longer compared to before, which actually I enjoyed a lot… We actually had the chance to make a better connection and pick the investor who was the best fit for us.”
Needless to say that the global ecommerce market boomed during the pandemic. Since then the sector has been hit by supply chain disruptions, rising inflation and deteriorating consumer confidence — but Vue Storefront still estimates that the market it can serve is worth $4.4bn, and can reach almost $9bn in 2030.
It also doesn’t exclude serving other sectors in the future, such as banking, insurance and online travel.
Who invested?
Felix Capital, a London-based VC that specialises in digital lifestyle businesses, led the round. It was joined by:
- Creandum, Stockholm-based VC
- Earlybird Digital East Fund, CEE VC
- SquareOne, Berlin-based VC
- Angel investors including Philippe Corrot, founder & CEO of Mirakl, and Nagi Letaifa, head of engineering at Mirakl
Where will the money go?
The startup wants to spend the fresh cash on rolling out more product features, cementing its status in the market and scaling its team.
It also wants to expand more to the US market and focus on the B2B segment of ecommerce.
“I have a feeling that B2B is a very forgotten part of ecommerce, especially on the frontend side,” Friday says.