By Ashley Young-
Threecolts, a London-based ecommerce platform founded by a former Amazon partner lead, has raised $90m (£75.4m) after completing a Series A funding round.
It has just under a 100 employees across 20 countries with tens of thousands of customers—everything from fastest-growing startups to Fortune 500 companies and leading e-commerce agencies—are using Threecolts to grow faster, lower their costs, and become more agile.
The company says tens of thousands of customers—everything from fastest-growing startups to Fortune 500 companies and leading e-commerce agencies—are using Threecolts to grow faster, lower their costs, and become more agile.
The platform founded in 2021 by former Amazon API partner lead of EMEA, Yoda Yee,(pictured) Threecolts develops management software for ecommerce brands and individual merchants to run their Amazon sales channels.
Her background working with third-party sellers while at Amazon was the inspiring force behind the creation of Threecolts. The founder has said that sellers have difficulty trusting Amazon’s sales tools because the tech giant has its own incentives to consider beyond those of the sellers.
The $90 million figure covers a Series A that Threecolts recently covered including a never-before disclosed pre-A investment; and some debt, with investors across those tranches including Crossbeam Venture Partners, General Global Capital, Stratos and CoVenture
The company has not disclosed the breakdown of each individual investment, bit pointed to competitive advantage it has over its competitors in the industry.
However, because Amazon deals in both third-party and first-party sales, it essentially competes with itself, Yee said. While it makes money in all cases, it has a financial incentive to prioritise its own sales over third-party merchants on its platform, according to Yee.
Threecolts is profitable and says that revenues have grown 6x year-over-year. It’s used the debt to make acquisitions — 14 in all to date in less than two years, in a roll-up play that echoes those we have seen in other parts of the e-commerce ecosystem (specifically among those aggregating smaller e-commerce retailers that sell on Amazon).
Yee previously worked at Amazon coordinating with third parties selling on its marketplaces, and through that understood a little about what Amazon does provide, what it does not and what could be done better.
Yee saw firsthand that Amazon’s position both as an enabler, but also competitor to retailers and brands, complicates its relationship with those third parties. Not only does Amazon sell items that directly compete with those that resellers or private-label retailers are selling on its platform, but ultimately, it will create algorithms that result in maximum conversion for Amazon itself, not that of any individual seller. And as a third-party seller, that could boost you, but it could also bury you.
Threecolts provides sales channel management tools to sellers using Amazon, which include data analytics, customer service integration, and automated ‘smart repricing’.
The startup has amassed a customer base of 22,000 and has grown its staff headcount to more than 150, up from just 21 a year ago.. The company has not disclosed the breakdown of each individual investment.
Threecolts has received financial backing from Crossbeam Venture Partners and General Global Capital, which have both acted as lead investors. Other backers include Stratos and CoVenture.
“Threecolts’ impressive execution over the past year means that sellers can now access a one-stop-shop solution for an increasing number of pain points, easing vendor fatigue and administrative loads,” said Sakib Jamal, senior investment associate at Crossbeam.
“Yoda and team have provided returns that are realized in quick feedback loops for customers of all shapes and sizes, from large enterprises to up-and-coming businesses.”