Back in 2019, Alven co-led Ankorstore €6m seed round together with Global Founders Capital. It has since then re-invested consistently in the company during its several rounds of funding alongside Index Ventures Tiger Global, Bain Capital Ventures and Aglae. The company founded by Nicolas Cohen, Nicolas d’Audiffret, Pierre Louis Lacoste and Mathieu Alengrin announces today a €250M Series C funding round led by BOND and Tiger Global, with the participation of Eurazeo and Coatue, as well as all existing investors.
Having genuinely reinvented the wholesale market by levelling the playing field for independent brands and retailers, Ankorstore has quickly established itself as the category leader in Europe and now serves 200,000 retailers and 15,000 brands across Europe, including more than 11,000 brands registered in 2021:
- Ankorstore’s sales volume increased by 950% between 2020 and 2021.
- The 15,000 registered brands are selling over one million unique products on the platform.
“We want to make things easy and simple for brands and independent retailers to do business together, being a part of their daily lives and changing the outdated habits of how retail works today – for the better” explains Nicolas Cohen, Co-CEO and Co-Founder
He continues: “This funding will allow us to expand geographically and accelerate activities in our European core markets. Today, we operate in 23 countries and have offices in Paris, London, Berlin, Amsterdam and Stockholm. In 2022 we will open offices in Italy and Spain so we can be as close to our brands and retailers as possible.”
Nicolas d’Audiffret, Co-CEO and Co-founder adds: “We needed an extraordinary team to scale-up as fast as Ankorstore has. That’s why I want to thank the entire team who has been instrumental in helping us grow from 0 to 400 employees, from 0 to 15,000 brands and into a unicorn valuation in only two years.
There are very few companies in the world that have accomplished this in such a short time. Nicolas d’Audiffret, Co-CEO and Co-Founder
As we speak, we’re hiring top talent from across Europe, to strengthen our collaboration with brands and retailers and to develop our local sales and customer support to offer the best customer experience, so that retailers can order easily and with no risk. We plan to scale both horizontally and vertically by adding new product categories and features. We recently added two new categories “sports & wellbeing” and “pets” to our five core product categories and will continue to invest in major product and tech developments to improve the customer experience for our community.”
“We are obviously thrilled about this funding but we will not lose sight of what drives us: our mission to support independent brands and retailers and do everything we can to enable their success”, underlines Pierre-Louis Lacoste, co-founder and CBO and continues: “In retail terms, an ‘anchor store’ is a shop that drives traffic and draws attention. We want independent retailers to become the local ‘anchor stores’ in their community, they’re the ones who offer the curated product at the right price and combine that with a unique and special experience. Ankorstore is creating an ecosystem for brands, retailers and consumers in which everyone thrives. Together, we are building the future of independent retail.”
Major achievements in only 2 years :
- €365M raised
- More than 400 employees
- Operating in 23 countries
- 200,000 retailers
- 15,000 brands
- 2,5 Mio connections between brands and retailers
- 1 Mio products listed on the platform
Advantages of Ankorstore at a glance:
- Free delivery in Europe for a minimum purchase of €300
- Minimum order of €100 per brand contrary to the minimum amounts usually imposed
- 60-day payment terms for resellers without endangering brands that are paid on delivery by Ankorstore
- Purchase from multiple brands in a single order
- A filter for locating brands and places of production that allows retailers to offer a selection of products suited to their customers
- A selection of authentic brands in 5 key retail sectors: home, grocery, fashion, beauty and kids