HOBOKEN, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Flow, the premier cross-border e-commerce solution for brands and retailers, announced today the company has secured $37M in Series B funding from New Enterprise Associates (NEA), American Express Ventures, and Latitude Ventures. With this funding, Flow plans to expand its product offerings and development, invest in current customers and customer acquisition, increase the company’s staffing, and to expand in the U.S. and Europe.
“We have seen strong growth in consumers wanting to purchase from brands outside their domestic market and yet cross-border shopping remains as difficult and complex as ever. Flow is able to simply solve both brands’ and consumers’ challenges for cross-border e-commerce with our innovative AI-driven SaaS platform and a flexible microservices approach,” said Rob Keve, CEO of Flow, a company he co-founded jointly with Mike Bryzek. “NEA, Amex Ventures and Latitude Ventures’ collective experience in retail technology and payments make them ideal partners for our mission in global commerce. Their combined network, credibility and expertise together with Bain Capital Ventures, will greatly assist our expansion.”
Statista predicts that total global e-commerce sales will reach $6.5 trillion by 2023, with cross-border purchases projected to account for 22 percent of total e-commerce worldwide. Yet brands and retailers still struggle to offer customers a shopping experience that feels local to each country. Multi-currency pricing, accurately calculated taxes and duties, local payment methods, direct international shipping options and more are necessities to improving the international customer experience and hence boosting international sales. Flow’s platform provides its clients with the control and flexibility needed to simply create localized e-commerce experiences.
“Cross-border shopping is a rapidly growing area of e-commerce, and more companies are investing in their cross-border strategy to capture that international demand,” said Liza Landsman, Venture Partner at NEA and former President of Jet.com. “Flow is a premier vendor in this space, and their platform delivers strategic advantages for brands and retailers entering or expanding into international markets. Our team is excited to support Flow’s rapid growth.”
“As retail continues to evolve and more customers demand their goods from other countries, brands are recognizing the international opportunity for selling cross-border,” said Lindsay Fitzgerald, Managing Director at American Express Ventures. “Flow’s platform helps retailers open up new sales opportunities and cater to a wider array of customers. Amex Ventures is pleased to support Flow in its future growth.”
“Consumers all over the globe demand more efficiency and better access to products than ever before,” said Julian Rowe, partner at Latitude Ventures. “Flow brings the only comprehensive solution to the retail landscape that dramatically improves the way e-commerce companies sell cross-border. We can’t think of a better partner to invest in and we’re very excited about Flow’s plans for the future, including building their presence with European retailers.”
Client growth has increased to 200 percent year-over-year as brands have sought out Flow to accelerate their international sales. The company’s client base includes traditional brands such as MZ Wallace and Charles & Colvard, digitally native brands such as MVMT Watches, M. Gemi, and Carbon38 and omnichannel retailers and marketplaces such as Stadium Goods and Goop.
“Before we partnered with Flow, our visibility into and tools to impact the cross-border landscape was limited,” said Travis Heard, CFO and COO of Outerknown, a planet-friendly men’s and women’s lifestyle apparel brand founded by professional surfer Kelly Slater, which launched with Flow in 2018. “After partnering with Flow, we were able to reduce our shipping costs by 60 percent. Now, 15 percent of our total sales are international. Flow's technology has proven to be a valuable asset to our business and international development.”
As Flow’s client network grows, so do the requirements for Flow’s continuously expanding solution. Flow has been innovating very rapidly with a continuous delivery approach. In 2019 alone it expanded the range of payment methods, enhanced its logistics module to provide global multi-distribution center fulfillment, and several other developments. As the leading pioneer in the cross-border space, Flow extends its expertise to clients as they expand internationally, having published resources for client reference such as the Cross-Border E-Commerce Trends: Global Research Report, which examines the shopping behaviors of cross-border consumers in 11 major markets.
Flow has become a high profile business within the wider tech industry, and has received broad recognition for their cutting-edge approach including winning several awards such as CNBC Upstart 100, The Lead.co Leading 100, and ReMode Best Cross-Border Solution. Additionally, Flow’s co-founders, CEO Rob Keve and CTO Mike Bryzek, were named 2019 Entrepreneurs of the Year by Ernst & Young (EY). For more information about Flow and to schedule a demo, visit Flow.io.
About Flow
Most e-commerce businesses struggle with the complexities of selling their products internationally. The problem is they don’t have the tools or the flexibility they need to sell cross-border, and existing solutions are missing the mark. At Flow, we believe there’s a better way and that global e-commerce should simply work. We have first-hand experience with cross-border challenges from our days working at well-known global brands, which is why we built a next generation engine to power global growth for ambitious e-commerce businesses. Our solution automates and simplifies the international e-commerce process for our clients. We remove the barriers of cross-border commerce by offering benefits such as multi-currency pricing, cost efficient and rapid shipping, international payment options, well-defined taxes and duties, and simple returns. Now global brands like MVMT Watches, MZ Wallace, Outerknown, Charles & Colvard and others can increase their customer conversion and grow international revenue starting today. Schedule a demo today at Flow.io.
About New Enterprise Associates (NEA)
New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) is a global venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors and geographies. With more than $20 billion in cumulative committed capital since the firm’s founding in 1977, NEA invests in technology and healthcare companies at all stages in a company’s lifecycle, from seed stage through IPO. The firm's long track record of successful investing includes more than 230 portfolio company IPOs and more than 390 mergers and acquisitions. www.nea.com.
About Latitude Ventures
Launched in 2019, Latitude Ventures is a sister fund to London-based seed investor LocalGLobe. Latitude was set up to invest in the breakout companies coming through from LocalGlobe's previous funds, at Series B and beyond. Based in London, LocalGlobe has been backing ambitious founders since 1999 including Transferwise, Zoopla, Improbable, Algolia and Robinhood.
