It’s easy to assume that the e-commerce ship has sailed when you consider that we have giant outfits like Shopify, WooCommerce and Wix dominating the field. However, the opportunity for brand-focused e-commerce platforms remains huge and fertile as so many smaller businesses continue to move online in the wake of the pandemic.
Further evidence of this has emerged in the form of one of the largest fundraisers by a startup in Turkey since the middle row A it usually costs under $15 million. E-commerce platform ikas has raised $20 million in a Series A funding round as it seeks to expand its business into new markets in Europe. The company currently operates in Turkey and Germany and says its platform simplifies store management for companies looking to have a digital presence.
The investment was led by International Finance Corporation (IFC) Fund.a business arm of the World Bank Group.
ikas co-founder and CEO Mustafa Namoğlu told TechCrunch that the company will use the new funding for international expansion in Eastern Europe and the DaCH region.
“Most of Europe is largely neglected or underserved by these US-based giants,” he said. “Global platforms lack customer service in local languages. It seems easy to start with, for example, a Shopify. But once you get started, you have to add other plugins and you might even need a company to run it.”
Namoğlu said that ikas can win customers over other platforms because it is more of a “fire and forget” platform. “The number one reason our merchants choose us over others is the speed of the storefront, which gives them higher conversion rates. You get it out of the box, even if you pay us €30 a month. The second reason is customer service. Third, we bundle payments and shipping labels into our core product, which means you don’t have to go and negotiate with payment providers or shipping labels. You are immediately ready to go,” he said.
Namoğlu previously founded MUGO, a fashion distribution and retail company, and launched ikas in 2017 with co-founders Tugay Karaçay, Ömercan Çelikler and Umut Ozan Yildirim.
IFC invests directly in companies as well as through PE and VC funds.
Also investing in ikas is Re-Pie Asset Management, which has grocery delivery startup Getir in its portfolio. The round was joined by ikas’ existing investor Revo Capital, known as the first institutional investor in Getir, Param, Midas and Roamless.
