New funding: E-commerce startup Fabric has raised $43 million to help mid-market brands that are trying to keep up with Amazon but don’t have the technical expertise or capability to build out robust e-commerce systems.
Fabric’s software: The company’s software helps retailers sell their products online. Its flexible platform is described as “headless,” or “modular commerce.” Customers such as GNC and Juicy Couture can use Fabric for their entire stack, or just pick and choose from its suite of commerce APIs to help with specific parts of a system such as product information or order management, for example.
Go deeper: “Instead of gluing together dozens of modules from dozens of different providers, Fabric is the orchestration layer that brings the best modules together in a seamless way,” Fabric CEO Faisal Masud explains in this blog post.
Founder pedigree: Masud is a tech vet who spent more than six years at Amazon in the 2000s, helping build inventory tools and launching the AmazonBasics product line. He then had stints at eBay, Groupon, and finally at Staples, where he was chief digital officer and later chief technology officer. Masud was most recently COO at Wing, the Alphabet-owned drone company where he launched the global drone delivery program for major retailers in food and pharmacy.
E-commerce boom: The online shopping surge is a tailwind for companies such as Fabric as more people buy products online amid the pandemic. U.S. e-commerce sales grew 47.2% year-over-year from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse. Online sales accounted for 19.7% of overall retail, up from 13.4% last year.
Investor interest: Norwest Venture Partners led the Series A round, with participation from Redpoint Ventures and Sierra Ventures. The $43 million cash infusion comes less than five months after Fabric announced a $9.5 million seed round.
