Those who run an online store are often also represented within online marketplaces such as Amazon, Ebay or Etsy in order to expand their own reach – and thus their sales. Luxembourg-based startup MarketLeap has developed an AI-enabled e-commerce system that addresses this very point and aims to simplify the usually laborious management of stores across fragmented e-commerce channels. In a seed financing round, the young company has now secured a total sum of 2.6 million euros.
The cash injection, which comes from Notion Capital, Kima Ventures, Motier Ventures and Expon Capital among others, will be used to accelerate the technical development of the system, including the launch of new service offerings, expansion into the U.S. and scaling operations in the UK.
Who is MarketLeap?
Behind MarketLeap is a startup founded in 2022 under the name “Gonuggets” by Mamoun Benkirani and Mekki Mouaddeb, former employees of Amazon and Jumia, who aim to “democratize e-commerce.”
The pair explain what the essence of what this means as follows: “Currently, most brands reach only 0.2% of their total potential on marketplaces, due to lack of expertise, time and money. They spend over 70% of their time managing their marketplace activity, which is less than 20% of their total revenue.” MarketLeap aims to simplify marketplace handling and “break through the previous revenue barriers.” This should allow brand owners to put more focus back on their core business: developing and sourcing their products.
In parallel, MarketLeap aims to enable them to easily and efficiently scale their businesses across fragmented e-commerce channels by making expansion into new and additional marketplaces simpler and less risky, and by making success more predictable, he said.
Technology platform is designed to scale
To do this, MarketLeap relies on integrating various partners, including logistics providers and financial service providers, among others. The AI-powered system “manages inventory of brands in its fully outsourced supply chain network and offers better payment terms than marketplaces,” says COO and co-founder Mekki Mouaddeb.
It is also intended to help identify growth opportunities and implement strategic brand development measures. The two founders do not disclose in detail exactly how this technical infrastructure looks and works, but the scope of functions is to be further expanded thanks to the new funding.
Users of the MarketLeap solution are said to have already recorded average growth rates in the low single digits in the first month of use. Early adopters include Danish watch brand Nordgreen, Swedish audio specialist Defunc, and Germany’s Guggenheimer Coffee, which is said to have seen sales increase by as much as 10 percent within six months.
Why are online marketplaces exciting?
Online marketplaces are popular, including with retailers who can easily expand their businesses this way. It’s also exciting for online print shops, which can often already be found with selected products on Amazon and the like.
And people like to use marketplaces like Etsy and Co.: as the online portal digitalcommerce360.com reports, the top 100 marketplaces alone are said to have sold goods worth $3.25 trillion last year. Reports also estimate that third-party online marketplaces will represent the largest and fastest-growing sales channel in global e-commerce by 2027 and could account for 59% of global e-commerce sales transactions.
