Given that Fyndiq‘s online marketplace is only available in Sweden, today’s news that the team has raised a massive $20 million Series A feels like such an anomaly. But clearly there are solid fundamentals behind the company to get investors Northzone and Industrifonden to open their wallet so wide; when we last covered the company this past February their turnover hit €13.8 Million, which is rapid growth for a company launched in 2010. Before this Series A, Fyndiq has raised $5M in funding from private investors including former CEO of SAS, Jan Carlzon.
To consumers, Fyndiq is just a way to find good deals on electronics, household goods, and any number of other products. But the company’s special sauce is how they help the thousands of smaller e-commerce players get rid of their slow-moving inventory by selling it through Fyndiq instead of devaluing brand through their own platform, and by reaching a potentially wider customer base. They’re solving a real problem. The web allowed anyone to open up an online store, and with it there’s always going to be too much overstock.
As far as startup concepts go, I find Fyndiq to be pretty beautiful. Online retailers can list their products for free on the platform, and if it’s sold the company takes a 5% transaction fee. The products themselves are shipped by the seller meaning Fyndiq doesn’t have to worry about the hard logistical work around a large e-commerce platform, and instead has the flexibility to just focus their efforts on driving traffic to their platform and maintaining a good relationship with sellers.
To date more than 500,000 unique customers have bought products on the marketplace, which currently lists over 220,000 products. The company has about 70 employees at their Stockholm headquarters and clearly this funding round will be used to expand Fyndiq beyond their borders.
“With [Northzone and Industriefonden’s] experience from scaling technology companies to game winners, we’re confident in our journey ahead and look forward to continuing our growth both in Sweden and elsewhere. The future looks bright for Fyndiq, our merchants and customers” said Dinesh Nayar, CEO & co-founder in a statement.
Sweden is developing into an interesting home for e-commerce startups. Fyndiq has momentum in the bargain area, Tictail has created the “Tumblr for e-commerce” and Virtusize is one of the leaders in the “online fit” problem that helps lower return costs for online clothing stores. With companies like H&M and Ikea clearly doing retail right, it only makes sense that Sweden’s tech prowess can translate that to the online world.
