Mirakl, on a path to build THE platform for marketplaces
Mirakl raises a $70m Series C and continues on its journey to build the best platform for marketplaces
Since our inception, the reinvention of the consumer journey and the transformation of the retail landscape have been key themes for us at Felix as we think about the future of commerce. In particular, as we saw the largest online etailers scale thanks to marketplace models, we expect more new generalist platforms to emerge that will either scale enormously (just like Amazon or Shopify did) or specific vertical markets that create very strong positions thanks to their deep relevance to that market and community (e.g Farfetch, airbnb or Deliveroo). We believe that Mirakl, a company we partnered with in 2015, has the potential to become one of the large generalist platforms of tomorrow, changing how commerce is done, powering marketplaces across B2C and B2B segments, and across multiple geographies, This conviction is now reinforced as the company announce a key milestone in that journey with a $70m C round led by Bain Capital Ventures, where Felix Capital reinvested alongside our friends at 83North and Elaia (see details here).
From a bistro table to building the backbone of commerce 3.0
As the founders, serial entrepreneurs Philippe Corrot and Adrien Nussenbaum, describe in their blog post, Mirakl was born out of a discussion between friends seven years ago at a Parisien bistro (obviously!). Today, the Mirakl family has grown to over 200 people (soon 300!), serving over 200 companies globally (with a presence in Paris, Boston, Munich, Barcelona, Stockholm, Sao Paulo, and Lisbon, as well as our hometown of London). Day after day, Mirakl continues on its journey to positively impact the commerce experience, becoming a key resource to retailers and businesses who must adapt to serve a more modern, versatile and demanding consumer. Since we got involved four years ago we have been impressed by both the execution and the growing vision. Last year was another milestone year with Mirakl launching 37 marketplaces (!) and delivering 100% growth. Mirakl may be on its way to deliver Phillippe and Adrien’s quest to become “the best platform ever built”!
The Marketplace of Everything, a key theme in Felix’s strategy
Since our inception, we made the theme of ”the marketplace of everything” central to our thesis. We obviously learned a lot from our investment in Farfetch (our team led the Series A in the company nine years ago, and we are still on that board), which has become thanks to its marketplace model the de facto platform for the luxury fashion market, with global reach. As we construct our portfolio across three types of businesses — brands (B2C), platforms (B2B2C) and enabling technologies (B2B) — we have gradually built a larger portfolio in the Commerce Cloud, This includes our investments in Yoobic (in-store execution) or Unmade (mass customisation software for apparel) and of course Mirakl, building a platform powering multiples marketplaces in B2C and B2B markets. The bet we made was that brands, retailers and distributors would expand their online presence through leveraging third-party technology as they assemble best-of-breed stacks. Key among our Felix convictions is the observation that many large incumbents do not have the internal resources to adapt to the digital world, and therefore must seek solutions that allow them to compete in today’s retail environment.
As we consider the “store of tomorrow”, we are paying close attention to a category of enablers that provide retailers and brands the tools they need to reach and engage customers across channels. In addition as customers become harder to attract and to retain, the level of optionality and quality that businesses need to provide customers is only increasing, and marketplaces will continue to be a core necessity of modern retailers. Mirakl is at the forefront of the movement.
This is how we formed an early view in 2015 that Mirakl had the potential to be a key part of the Commerce Cloud stack, thanks to its platform powering multiple online marketplaces, initially for consumer-facing businesses, and increasingly for B2B businesses. Over the past 4 years, we saw how Mirakl has grown from strength to strength, successfully expanding in the US and adding customers across America (from Best Buy Canada to Walmart Mexico), scaling its European footprint while continuing to strengthen its portfolio of partners in France.
We believe in Mirakl!
We are thrilled to join this funding round, alongside partners Bain Capital Ventures, 83North, and Elaia, to enable Mirakl in investing further in technology and to expand the team. We have been inspired by the company’s growth to date and are excited to be a part of Mirakl’s journey to power the global platform economy!
