It’s easy to assume that the e-commerce ship has sailed when you consider that we have giant platforms like Shopify, Woocommerce, and Wix dominating the industry. But the e-commerce field remains broad and fertile, as many small businesses continue to venture online in the wake of the pandemic.
Further evidence of this came in the form of one of the largest fundraising rounds by a startup in Turkey, given that the average Series A is typically less than $15 million. E-commerce platform ikas has raised $20 million in a Series A funding round as it looks to expand its operations into new markets in Europe. The company currently operates in Turkey and Germany and says its platform simplifies store management for businesses that want to have a digital presence.
The investment was led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) fund, a venture capital arm of the World Bank Group.
ikas co-founder and CEO Mustafa Namoğlu told TechCrunch that the company will use the new funding for its international expansion in Eastern Europe and the DaCH region.
“Most of Europe is neglected or underserved by these US-based giants,” he said. “Global platforms lack customer service in local languages. It seems easy to get started with, for example, a Shopify. But once you get started, you need to add other plugins, and you may even need an agency to run it.
Namoğlu said that ikas can gain customers compared to 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 their storefront, which gives them higher conversion rates. You get this immediately, even if you pay us €30 per month. The second reason is customer service. Third, we bundle payments and shipping labels into our core product, which means you don’t need to negotiate with payment providers or shipping labels. You’re immediately ready to go,” he said.
Namoglu previously founded MUGO, a fashion distribution and retail company, and launched ikas in 2017 with co-founders Tugay Karaçay, Ömercan Çelikler and Umut Ozan Yıldırım.
IFC invests directly in companies as well as through private equity and venture capital funds.
Re-Pie Asset Management also invests in ikas, which also has grocery delivery startup Getir in its portfolio. The round saw the participation of existing ikas investor Revo Capital, best known as the first institutional investor in Getir, Param, Midas and Roamless.
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