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BigCommerce raises $64 million to take on Shopify, fuel expansion

BigCommerce says it has now raised more than $200 million in equity funding.
Written by Natalie Gagliordi, Contributor

BigCommerce says it has raised $64 million in equity funding led by Goldman Sachs to fuel a range of expansion efforts. The Austin, Texas-based company is also looking to the cash injection to help it keep pace and compete with its Canadian rival Shopify.

BigCommerce has steadily gained market share as an e-commerce SaaS provider since its founding in Sydney in 2009, but the company still trails behind Shopify when it comes to the size of its user base and the number of sites powered by its platform.

That said, BigCommerce is comfortable with how much it's grown relative to its key competitor.

"Today, BigCommerce ranks as the world's No. 2 SaaS platform after Shopify, which launched 6 years before we did," said BigCommerce CEO Brent Bellm, in a blog post.

Bellm also touted the focus of the BigCommerce platform as a benefit to its business model.

"Unlike Shopify, we aren't distracted by ancillary businesses like proprietary payments, shipping, POS, and lending," he said. "BigCommerce partners and integrates seamlessly with the market leaders in each of those categories, thereby delivering better solutions for our customers while keeping our company 100 percent focused on our core platform."

In terms of expansion, BigCommerce said it will invest more money toward "platform openness," including APIs and SDKs that help make its platform more customizable for mid-market and larger size merchants. The company also plans to expand further into Europe and open a regional headquarters in the EU area with designated sales, marketing, and service personnel.

BigCommerce also highlights "balance sheet strength" as its third primary use of the new growth capital, signaling that an IPO is still on the roadmap.

"Over time, we'd love to follow in the footsteps of Demandware, which coincidentally was also backed by our Series A investors at General Catalyst and had a very successful run as an independent public company prior to its acquisition," Bellm said.

BigCommerce says it has now raised more than $200 million in equity funding.

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