The company is the first to take a factory-to-consumer, quality-first approach to gain customer trust and increase revenue by reducing consumer concerns with cross-border transactions
Browze, an online marketplace for curated lifestyle products, announces it has raised $12.5M in Series A funding. The round was led by Valor Siren Ventures and distributed in two parts, first $7.5M in 2020, followed by an extension of $5M that closed recently. The funding will help propel the company forward as it continues to aggressively expand and meet the rising demand for quality products.
“This round of funding is pivotal in driving Browze forward,” said Izzy Rosenzweig, CEO and founder of Browze. “The cross border e-commerce market is expected to reach $4.8 trillion by 2026, up from $780 billion in 2019. However, today’s e-commerce landscape is crowded with players that don’t deliver on quality, and we are changing the status quo. We want to change the game and give customers what they deserve – quality products at the best price with no surprises.”
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“We know that consumers today are spending billions every year with cross-border e-commerce companies,” said Jon Shulkin, partner at Valor Siren Ventures. “We were attracted to Browze’s vision of becoming the world’s most trusted discount marketplace by solving for reliability and affordability. The company is well positioned to not only excel in its category, but also set a new industry standard.”
In addition to backing from Valor Siren Ventures, Browze also has several key industry executives supporting its mission, including Shaoming Yang, Browze’s Advisor for China Operations, who is a former vice president of AliExpress and Tmall Global. Samuel Yen backs the company’s mission as an investor and advisor as well, and is a former vice president for Alibaba Group. Eli Spiro, CEO of Axxcess Capital, also offered his expertise to help advise Browze in raising its Seed and Series A funding. This support has been integral to bringing Browze’s vision to life.
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Browze works directly with manufacturers to ship products straight from the factory to consumers. This process cuts out unnecessary steps and reduces costs, so Browze can keep prices low and pass the savings along to customers. Since launching its marketplace in 2017, the company has served millions of loyal customers, leading to a 100 percent YOY growth in revenue.
Today, Browze’s marketplace features a curated selection of quality, unique lifestyle products from home, kitchen, and seasonal holiday collections. In the near future, Browze intends to be first-in-mind for anything non-time sensitive including kitchen essentials, clothing, shoes, cosmetics, and more. Unlike its competitors, each product featured on the site goes through rigorous quality control tests to ensure that what consumers see and purchase on the website is what arrives at their doorstep– every time. The company aims to make the online shopping experience fun and engaging by leading with transparency and reliability and providing a frictionless transaction process to eliminate common consumer concerns with cross-border shopping.
Browze is currently serving customers in the United States and Europe, with ambitions to establish a global footprint as operations grow.
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