Paris, France | December 2020
L Capital Fund II has made a growth equity investment in Mirakl, a European eCommerce marketplace SaaS platform, alongside Permira, a leading private equity fund out of Europe with €44B in AUM. L Capital has previously invested with Permira in previous portfolio companies: Klarna, Magento, Genesys and Informatica. The Mirakl investment coincides with a recent $300 million growth equity round (led by Permira) that takes total capital raised to $400 million and values the company at over $1.5 billion. Other participating investors include 83North (Laurel Bowden), Bain Capital Ventures (Scott Friend), Elaia Partners (Xavier Lazarus), and Felix Capital (Frederic Court).
Mirakl is the only marketplace SaaS platform that empowers both B2B and B2C organizations to launch and grow an enterprise marketplace at scale. After establishing the enterprise marketplace SaaS sector and becoming the clear leader, Mirakl is entering a new phase of hyper growth to help B2B and B2C organizations seize the platform opportunity and lead in this new digital economy.
Platforms are the future of business, and in recognition of the critical value that platform strategies deliver, traditional businesses & digital natives alike are investing in the platform model at unprecedented levels. Mirakl already counts 11 of the top 40 North American retailers and a growing bench of leading B2B organizations as customers globally, and in the first half of 2020, Mirakl defied the COVID economic slowdown, onboarding 25 new customers and launching 18 new marketplaces. During the first 6 months of 2020, Mirakl-powered Marketplaces showed remarkable resiliency in the midst of the COVID crisis with the support of Mirakl’s technology, generating over $1.2 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) and demonstrating the agility and scalability of the marketplace model even in the face of global economic disruptions.
This funding will enable Mirakl to reinforce its clear leadership, significantly investing in its technology and partner ecosystem and growing its team to meet the rapid adoption of the marketplace model. Significant areas of investment will include:
- Hiring over 300 engineers in the next 3 years to focus on:
- Continuously enhancing Mirakl’s product features to improve its offering for the B2C market and address more use cases in B2B commerce requirements;
- Further developing advanced capabilities that expand the use of AI and automation to provide even faster time to market, greater operational efficiency, and robust security for operators and sellers;
- Extending Mirakl’s platform even further through the continued enhancement and creation of platform APIs and pre-built connectors to marketplace ecosystem technology partners;
- Expanding the Mirakl Connect ecosystem to realize Mirakl’s vision of becoming the central hub and platform for digital marketplace operators, sellers, and partners
- Significantly scaling Mirakl’s sales and customer success teams around the world to support customers in establishing winning strategies and organizations through their entire marketplace journey.
These investments in Mirakl’s continued growth will strengthen its position at the center of the platform economy as the marketplace ecosystem coalesces around Mirakl. “Mirakl has built an entirely new category, ushering in a platform revolution that is only just beginning,” said Adrien Nussenbaum, U.S. CEO and cofounder of Mirakl. “When we founded Mirakl, we envisioned a future where every organization would be able to capture the power of the platform business model. Now, we’re proud to count more than 300 of the world’s most forward-thinking organizations as customers, driving incredible growth and transformation, and we’re just getting started. We are thrilled to have the backing of an experienced partner like Permira. Their investment will support us as we continue to bring our vision of the platform economy to every industry in every corner of the globe.”
“We have successfully backed disruptive high growth technology companies for years across Permira, particularly in eCommerce and marketplaces, and we are excited to add Mirakl to our existing portfolio of investments in France,” said Alexandre Margoline, Partner and Head of France at Permira. “We look forward to partnering with Adrien, Philippe and the broader Mirakl team as they continue to expand their offering to clients in the ongoing eCommerce revolution, becoming the central hub and platform for digital marketplace operators, sellers and partners.”
“While the Company has seen outstanding growth in recent years, Mirakl’s powerful technology has just begun to scratch the surface of its potential in B2C and B2B,” said Daniel Brenhouse, Principal at Permira. “We are thrilled to lead this investment in the next phase of Mirakl’s evolution.”
Permira’s investment was made through its Growth Opportunities Fund I, which focuses on minority investments in growth-focused businesses. The Permira funds have a strong track record of investing in technology and digital commerce, including recent investments in: Zwift, the global online fitness platform for cyclists and runners; Klarna, the leading innovative payments company; The Knot Worldwide, the largest global wedding planning marketplace; Allegro, Poland’s largest online marketplace; and, Magento, a leader in cloud digital commerce innovation. Permira Growth Partner Bruce Chizen, former CEO of Adobe and Oracle board member, will join Mirakl as an advisor to the Board.
For more information about Mirakl and the Mirakl Marketplace Platform, please visit www.mirakl.com.
About L Capital
L Capital is a specialty private equity firm that advises and invests alongside leading buyout and growth equity firms. Our strategy leverages longstanding private equity sponsor relationships and a global executive network to unlock and transform PE deal opportunities across the Technology, Business Services, Industrial and Consumer sectors. The result: strategic insights for PE investors, high-impact leadership for their portfolio companies and access to differentiated returns for L Capital’s limited partners.
Founded in 2015, L Capital is a part of a unique three-part platform serving the private equity industry. Our affiliated executive search and advisory services provide access to a network of 250,000+ senior executives which we leverage to provide value across the PE investment lifecycle including deal origination, diligence support, executive search, and team buildouts. This executive network is a key differentiator and offers a unique lens into companies through the executives who lead them. For more information, visit: www.lcapitalmgmt.com.