Joor Raises $25 Million
Digital wholesale ecosystem Joor announced a $25 million cash infusion on Tuesday, which it says it will use to expand its footprint into new categories and enhance its proprietary payment solution.
Led by Brightwood Capital and Tamarix Capital Partners, the fundraising round also included existing investors like Macquarie Capital, Battery Ventures and Canaan Partners. According to Joor, the funds will help it scale new data-led initiatives and expand further into the footwear, sports and outdoor sectors. It will also allow the company to grow Joor Pay, the embedded feature that simplifies foreign transactions.
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“JOOR has a proven track record of enabling growth for world class brands and retailers,” Joor CEO Kristin Savilia said. “Amidst a tough macroeconomic environment, we’re thrilled that our investors recognize the value that JOOR’s solution provides and share our vision of accelerating the platform’s growth through additional innovation and enhanced platform capabilities.”
The wholesale management system connect buyers with brands so they can build their store assortments by shopping, managing orders and processing payments on a centralized platform. The digitalized wholesale buying and selling platform saw significant growth when the pandemic disrupted physical markets, showrooms and trade show activity. Joor also gives buyers access to historical data to inform their purchasing decisions.
Joor said 14,000 brands and 600,000 fashion buyers use the platform today, spanning 150 countries and categories from luxury and contemporary apparel to accessories, footwear and lifestyle products. The 13-year-old platform processes about $20 billion in transactions each year, with LVMH, Richemont, Tapestry, Stella McCartney, Valentino and Dr. Martens using the platform to connect with retailers. Department stores and online stores including Neiman Marcus, Shopbop, Printemps and Harrods conduct their buying exclusively through the platform, according to Joor.
“We continue to be impressed by the scale of business being transacted on Joor, combined with their global footprint among the world’s most influential brands and retailers,” Brightwood Capital strategic partner Michael Novoseller said. “Joor is truly transforming the wholesale ecosystem and is poised for continued growth as they modernize every element of the wholesale process.”
Mark Hauser, managing partner at Tamarix Capital Partners, said Joor’s team of experts sparked its interest in the investment. “They bring together a unique blend of industry knowledge with cutting-edge technological capability and, while others in this climate have pulled back, they have strategically invested in developing industry-leading solutions that strongly position the company for success,” he added.
Joor’s Current State of Wholesale Report, released in August, showed that wholesale is on track to outpace direct-to-consumer sales, with 74 percent of brands it surveyed saying that they currently attribute more than half of their sales to retail relationships rather than owned sales channels. More than half (51 percent) of survey respondents, who sell apparel, accessories, footwear and home goods, said the development of new partnerships was their top priority, outranking the development of their own e-commerce verticals or stores.
Three-quarters of brands surveyed also said their wholesale sales grew year over year from 2022, and 33 percent attributed that growth directly to the shift away from DTC. The average projected wholesale growth across survey respondents hovered at 27 percent.
