Commercetools, stylized as commercetools, is a cloud-based headless commerce platform that provides APIs to power e-commerce sales and similar functions for large businesses.[2] Both the company and platform are called Commercetools. The company is headquartered in Munich, Germany with additional offices in Berlin, Germany; Jena, Germany; Amsterdam, Netherlands; London, England; Durham, North Carolina; Zürich, Switzerland; Sydney, Australia; Shanghai, China and Singapore.[1] Through its investor REWE Group it is associated with the omnichannel order fulfillment software solutions provider fulfillmenttools and the payment transactions provider paymenttools.[3][4][5][6] Its clients include Audi, Bang & Olufsen, Carhartt and Nuts.com.[7] Commercetools is a founding member of the MACH Alliance.

commercetools
Company typePrivate
IndustryE-commerce
Founded2006; 18 years ago (2006)
Munich, Germany
Founders
  • Dirk Hoerig
  • Denis Werner
Headquarters
Munich
,
Germany
Number of locations
12[1] (2022)
Area served
Worldwide
Number of employees
600+[1] (2022)
Websitecommercetools.com

History

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Commercetools was founded by Dirk Hoerig and Denis Werner in 2006.[8][9] It launched its platform in 2013.[7] In 2014, Commercetools was wholly bought by REWE Digital, part of Germany’s REWE Group.[10][11] Hoerig is credited with coining the term "headless commerce".[12]

In 2018, Commercetools announced a $17 million investment to support its international expansion.[13] It expanded into the U.K market in 2019 with the opening of its London office.[14] In 2020, Commercetools established a presence in Australia, with a team in Melbourne and a data center in Sydney.[15]

In 2019, commercetools raised $145 million from venture capital firm Insight Partners.[15] Insight Partners' managing directors Richard Wells and Matt Gatto joined Commercetools' board of directors as part of the deal.[16][17] At the same time, Commercetools was spun out by REWE. REWE remains a significant shareholder.[10]

In January 2021, commercetools partnered with car manufacturer Volkswagen Group to use the platform for its group brands, including Volkswagen, Bentley, Porsche and Audi.[18]

In May 2021, REWE group announced additional investment into Commercetools to fund growth into the Chinese market.[19]

In September 2021, commercetools raised $140m in its series C round, led by venture capital firm Accel, valuing the company at $1.9 billion.[20]

In November 2021, commercetools acquired Frontastic[21][22] for an undisclosed amount.

In 2022, commercetools was named leader in Digital Commerce by the technological research and consulting firm Gartner together with SAP, Adobe Inc., and Salesforce,[23][24] as well as named leader in the Forrester Wave™ B2B Commerce Solutions, Q2 2022, by Forrester Research a research and advisory company, together with Oracle Corporation and Salesforce.[25][26]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "commercetools locations". Craft.co. Archived from the original on 2021-06-11.
  2. ^ Lunden, Ignrid. "Commercetools raises $145M from Insight for Shopify-style e-commerce APIs for large enterprises". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-06-11.
  3. ^ Jonas Jansen (2020-09-09). "Rewe verkauft auch Wissen". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung - FAZ.NET (in German). Retrieved 2022-09-07.
  4. ^ Michael Gerling (2022-09-14). "73.000 Tonnen Papier sparen". EHI Retail Institute (in German). Retrieved 2022-09-23.
  5. ^ Dominik Grollmann (2021-07-05). "Rewe startet eigenen Paymentdienst". iBusiness (in German). Retrieved 2022-09-25.
  6. ^ Stephan Lamprecht (2021-07-21). "Rewe Gruppe gründet Payment-Technologietochter". Payment & Banking (in German). Retrieved 2022-10-05.
  7. ^ a b Melton, James (2019-10-24). "Headless ecommerce platform vendor commercetools raises $145 million". Digital Commerce 360. Archived from the original on 2019-10-30. Retrieved 2021-06-11.
  8. ^ Wong, Stephanie; Morgan, Carter. "2020 Year In Review: How I Launched This, A SaaS Story". How I Launched This: Google Cloud. Archived from the original on 2020-09-19. Retrieved 2021-06-11.
  9. ^ "commercetools mit weiterem Investmentkapital - VC Magazin" (in German). Archived from the original on 2021-05-22. Retrieved 2021-06-11.
  10. ^ a b Palmer, Maija; Smith, Tim (2020-11-24). "European tech companies are beating Amazon at its own game". Sifted. Archived from the original on 2020-11-24. Retrieved 2021-06-11.
  11. ^ "Shopify-Investor pumpt 130 Millionen in commercetools". deutsche-startups.de (in German). 2019-10-21. Retrieved 2021-06-11.
  12. ^ Lunden, Ingrid. "Italy's Commerce Layer raises $16M led by Coatue for its headless commerce platform". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  13. ^ Pirrone, Gabriella. "commercetools CEO on Global Enterprise Expansion". CMSC. Archived from the original on 2019-05-09. Retrieved 2021-06-14.
  14. ^ Walker, Peter. "German e-commerce tech firm enters UK market". Retail Systems. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  15. ^ a b "commercetools Announces Arrival In Australia". B&T. 2020-03-10. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  16. ^ Lunden, Ingrid. "Commercetools raises $145M from Insight for Shopify-style e-commerce APIs for large enterprises". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  17. ^ Melton, James (2019-10-24). "Headless ecommerce platform vendor commercetools raises $145 million". Digital Commerce 360. Archived from the original on 2019-10-30. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  18. ^ Edwards, Roy (2021-01-15). "Volkswagen selects commercetools for its eCommerce solution -". Enterprise Times. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  19. ^ Farrelly, Connor. "REWE Group Invests In Expansion Of Commercetools". ESM Magazine. Archived from the original on 2021-05-17. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
  20. ^ "Commercetools raises $140M at a $1.9B valuation as 'headless' commerce continues to boom". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-10-13.
  21. ^ "VC Daily: In Venture Investing, Early Stage Moves to Main Stage". Wall Street Journal. 2021-11-22. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-11-23.
  22. ^ Demery |, Paul (2021-11-22). "Commercetools fills a headless technology gap with Frontastic". Digital Commerce 360. Retrieved 2021-11-23.
  23. ^ "Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce Platforms 2022". CX Today. 2022-08-24. Retrieved 2022-11-01.
  24. ^ "2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant and Critical Capabilities for Digital Commerce". commercetools. 2022-08-24. Retrieved 2022-11-01.
  25. ^ "The Forrester Wave™: B2B Commerce Solutions, Q2 2022". commercetools. 2022-08-24. Retrieved 2022-11-12.
  26. ^ Zach Thompson (2022-05-16). "commercetools named a Leader in B2B Forrester report". IT Brief Australia. Retrieved 2022-11-12.