Vue Storefront raised $17.4 million in round A

Vue Storefront Inc., a company in OEX S.A.’s portfolio, has raised growth funds from three institutional investors and a group of so-called business angels at a pre-transaction valuation of $63.0 million through a series A share issue.

The lead investor in the issue was an investment fund managed by Creandum (known for its investments in Spotify, Klarna and Bolt, among others), and key investors also included funds managed by Earlybird Venture Capital (investor in e.g. N26 and Peak Games) and Paua Ventures (investor in e.g. Pipedrive and Tylko). The investment appeal is evidenced by the fact that the Company has also been supported by a number of business angels associated with successful high-tech projects.

Following the finalization of this financing round, a series of accompanying minor transactions and the additional issue related to the company’s incentive programme for managers and employees, OEX’s stake in Vue Storefront Inc. (through options exercisable from the level of VSF’s Polish company) will amount to approximately 9%.

Vue Storefront was created by a group of young eCommerce technology specialists as a project within a subsidiary of the OEX Group, i.e. Divante. Due to the promising prospects, but also the great needs related to further funding, the project was then spun off into a separate company (VSF), which gained the support of two Polish venture capital funds. Given the global nature of solutions offered by Vue Storefront and the strong interest from foreign VC funds, the shareholders decided earlier this year to set up a company in the U.S. to enable a financing round in that market. The success of the current issue was further aided by the support given to Vue Storefront by Y Combinator, a well-known Silicon Valley technological start-up accelerator (the company is one of few ventures from Poland to obtain such support).

Vue Storefront deals with the development and commercialization of solutions for eCommerce, used to create the so-called front-ends of Internet stores, i.e. their layer responsible for the direct communication with consumers. Vue Storefront’s solutions are created in the so-called headless model, which means a possibility to cooperate with any back0end systems (responsible for the technical layer of the store) and in the PWA technology, guaranteeing, without limitation, high speed of operation and a possibility to work off-line. The basic solution proposed by Vue Storefront operates on the basis of an open-source licence (i.e. it is available for free to all interested users), however the company also sells commercial licences, providing an extended scope of services to the clients.

‘The completion of this financing round is a great success for the members of Vue Storefront’s team brought about thanks to their courage and determination in building and promoting their vision. The solution that Vue Storefront is developing attracts a lot of attention from the eCommerce industry around the world. The $63 million valuation is impressive and demonstrates the perceived potential for innovation created by Vue Storefront. Consequently, Vue Storefront becomes an important position for us in the OEX Lab area – a group of innovative projects related to the digitization of commerce and technologies for eCommerce,’ said Jerzy Motz, President of the Management Board of OEX S.A.

‘We will continue to accompany the company in its development. We do not plan to sell its shares at this stage,’ added Jerzy Motz.