SEATTLE, Feb. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Pipe17, the connected infrastructure company for e-commerce, today announced the closing of an $8M round of funding led by GLP Capital Partners, the U.S.-based investment arm of GLP, the leading investor in logistics infrastructure and technology in the world. Participating investors include current and former C-suite leaders of e-commerce pioneers such as AllBirds, Amazon, Shopify and others. The funding follows strong customer and partner progress and will be used to accelerate go-to market efforts and expand the team to meet the rapid rise in demand. 

"As strategic investors in e-commerce logistics, we are very familiar with the startups operating in this space," said Alan Yang, Chief Executive Officer of GLP Capital Partners. "We invested in Pipe17 because of the outstanding team, their track record and their unique vision for solving one of the biggest pain points for e-commerce merchants."

Connecting all the Pieces for E-commerce Merchants
Pipe17 provides a cloud-based service that connects merchant e-commerce businesses with an expanding set of e-commerce platforms, marketplaces, fulfillment centers, financial systems, and SaaS applications to form end-to-end automated operations. Pipe17 works in conjunction with merchant's existing systems, including ERPs like NetSuite, to provide control and visibility at every step of the fulfillment cycle, manage order and inventory flows and easily add and make changes to vendor services.  Pipe17's no-code approach is fast and easy to set up and requires no administration. 

"Pipe17 is the backbone of our e-commerce operations," said Matt Pierce, e-commerce manager at RipNDip, a Los Angeles based clothing brand, available in over 1,000 stores, that saw their e-commerce business double in the last year. "It makes it easier for us to expand into new channels and fulfill more error-free orders on time. At our recent Black Friday sales event, we received 4,500 e-commerce orders within a couple of hours, in addition to our wholesale and retail orders. In the past, this would have been like a storm hitting us, with limited visibility into the state of our orders and inventory. Thanks to Pipe17, we were able to process all of our orders without a problem."

Operations Pain - A Symptom of Growth 
The e-commerce market has taken off in the past year with 2020 US sales growing 42% to $861B. Underscoring the tremendous opportunity available for e-commerce merchants, a recent report from McKinsey & Co., revealed that nearly a decade's worth of growth occurred in the last 12 months. While selling channels and marketplaces have continued to proliferate and prosper, the core operations of e-commerce have struggled to keep up, becoming an impediment to growth for merchants and their partners.

"This unprecedented growth in e-commerce coupled with the pandemic means that merchants small and large are left with increasing operational challenge" said Mo Afshar, CEO Pipe17, "With online spending now making up more than 20% of retail spending and more than 1.3 million e-commerce businesses in the U.S., merchants know they need to become more effective and more efficient to get their share of the demand."

Afshar believes empowering the growing class of Direct-to-Consumer merchants requires addressing the need for more intelligent technologies that let merchants easily connect all the platforms and applications they rely on - including their financial or ERP systems - into automated workflows. "Solutions shouldn't be this complicated. Most of the merchants we speak with don't have IT staff and are frustrated with their technology service providers" he added. "Our no-code approach, opens up new possibilities for growing their businesses."

The company also announced today that they have seen unprecedented client demand and growth, as well as an enthusiastic reception from the market, working with companies such as Death Wish Coffee, Tivic Health, GoChirp, and St Frank to automate their operations. 

About Pipe17 
Connect. See. Act. Pipe17 connects merchant e-commerce businesses with an expanding set of marketplaces, fulfillment centers, financial systems, and SaaS applications to form end-to-end automated operations.  Merchants get control and visibility at every step of the fulfillment cycle, can manage order and inventory flows and easily add and make changes to vendor services.  Pipe17's no-code approach is fast and easy to set up and administer. Iconic brands like Death Wish Coffee, RipNDip and Tivic Health rely on Pipe17 to create end-to-end automated operations. Learn more at www.pipe17.com

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SOURCE Pipe17