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Fashion commerce platform Centra secures 10 Million Euro funding

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Fashion geared commerce platform Centra announces partnership with Verdane – secures 10 MEUR in funding to accelerate international growth.

Swedish SaaS e-commerce platform Centra is pleased to announce that it has secured 10 MEUR in growth equity funding from Verdane, the Northern European specialist growth equity investment firm. The partnership will enable Centra to power up its product development and niche offering for fashion and lifestyle brands – and accelerate its growth and international expansion. Verdane is making a minority investment in Centra.

Centra is a leading API-based digital commerce platform focused on helping consumer goods brands with their Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) and Wholesale operations. Since it was founded in 2016, the Company has experienced strong growth, with an average yearly ARR growth of around 50%, and it now works with over 200 clients across Europe, including brands such as Sandqvist, Nudie Jeans and Eton Shirts. Brands use Centra's feature-rich platform to streamline multi-market and multi-channel operations, DTC as well as B2B.

Centra's high growth has been supported by key macro trends, including the disruption of the traditional consumer goods supply chain and the rise of direct-to-consumer and direct-to-retail go-to-market models; the rise of API-based, or headless, composable, software, which is replacing monolithic platforms and enabling tailored customer experiences; and the growing digitisation of wholesale trade, which enables brands to reach an ever-growing number of customers across markets. As a largely bootstrapped company, Centra's growth is considerable, and the partnership with Verdane will further ensure continuation of the Company's success.

Martin Jensen, Co-Founder and CEO at Centra commented: “With a partner like Verdane on board, Centra can continue to invest in and innovate our software at an accelerated pace, to roll out the next generation of brand-tailored DTC, B2B and B2B2C business features that give fashion and lifestyle brands a competitive advantage, with the aim to become a niche market leader in Europe and beyond. Tech-enabled brands will be the winners in the future of commerce, so we founded Centra with the ambition to create a flexible and comprehensive platform that gives brands full control of their marketing and sales channels and enable them to connect with their customers, both on the DTC and wholesale side. After five years of high growth, we have become the preferred vendor to brands in Sweden and have initiated our expansion in Europe."

"We are pleased to bring on an investor with a strong track record in supporting both software and digital consumer companies, and that has helped other Northern European SaaS businesses take the next step in their journey. We look forward to working closely with Verdane as we embark on the next phase of growth for Centra."

Björn Beckman, Principal at Verdane commented: “We are excited to partner with Centra, which we believe has the potential to become a niche leader in the European e-commerce enablement space. As a digital commerce platform, Centra’s key differentiator is its focus on consumer goods brands and API-based technology approach, providing brands with the capabilities to digitalise commerce operations and create uniquely branded customer experiences across channels. As the preferred partner to growing tech-enabled businesses across Northern Europe and with our extensive experience backing software and digital consumer businesses, Verdane is well-suited to support Centra as it continues to grow its platform and scale its operations across Europe. We look forward to collaborating with Martin and his team on this journey.”

About Centra
Centra is a headless SaaS e-commerce platform empowering the next generation of consumer brands with a global-first approach. Leading brands such as Nudie Jeans, Ideal of Sweden, Stronger, Eton Shirts and Sandqvist use Centra's software to deliver a seamless global e-commerce experience for consumers and wholesale buyers. Centra is currently one of the fastest-growing e-commerce platforms on the market and a pioneer in headless e-commerce. The platform consists of two modules: Direct-to-Consumer and Digital Wholesale. Centra was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, with offices in Wroclaw, Poland and New York, USA.
More about Centra via: https://fashionunited.com/companies/centra  

About Verdane
Verdane is a specialist growth equity investment firm that partners with sustainable, tech-enabled Northern European businesses to help them reach the next stage of international growth. Verdane can invest as a minority or majority investor, either in single companies or through portfolios of companies, and looks to deploy behind three core themes; the Digital Consumer, Software Everywhere and Sustainable Society. Verdane funds hold more than €3bn in total commitments and have made over 135 investments in fast-growing businesses since 2003. Verdane’s team of over 85 investment professionals and operating experts, based out of Berlin, Copenhagen, Helsinki, London, Oslo and Stockholm, is dedicated to being the preferred growth partner to tech-enabled businesses in Northern Europe.

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