E-commerce firm fabric hits valuation of US$1.5b after SoftBank-led funding

[BENGALURU] E-commerce tech platform fabric said on Thursday (Feb 24) it has reached a valuation of about US$1.5 billion after a new funding round led by Japan's SoftBank, as the company looks to cash in on the pandemic-fueled surge in demand for online shopping.

Founded in 2017, fabric offers a "headless" commerce platform as a service to retailers, merchandisers and sellers to streamline their e-commerce operations. The so-called "headless"commerce separates the front- and back-ends of e-commerce Websites and applications, which allow brands greater flexibility and faster page-loads.

Several tech companies have raised capital and filed to go public at high valuations since last year as their products and services, which cater to the digital economy, see overwhelming demand due to a fundamental shift in ways of doing business.

In December, mobile commerce platform Rezolve struck a US$2 billion deal to go public in the United States by merging with a blank-check company backed by billionaire Betsy Cohen.

fabric's clients include apparel retailer Chico's FAS, fast-food giant McDonald's and Jessica Alba's The Honest Company. The Seattle, Washington-based firm's software helps these companies customize their websites and offers back-end technology for online payment transactions.

The e-commerce company intends to use the funds raised in the round to ramp up product development and expand into more markets.

Other investors in the series C round included Forerunner Ventures, Glynn Capital, Redpoint Ventures, and Norwest Ventures. Last year, fabric raised US$100 million in a series B round led by private-equity firm Stripes. REUTERS