Ankorstore raises €82 million for expansion in Europe

Ankorstore, a wholesale marketplace from France, has raised 100 million dollars (82.4 million euros) in a Series B funding round. The online marketplace will use the money to further expand in Europe and grow its customer base.

Just five months ago, Ankorstore raised about 25 million euros in a Series A round, and now it has raised even more money in a round led by Tiger Global and Bain Capital Ventures. The funding follows after a strong period. Ankorstore has tripled its business during the course of 2021.

Ankorstore will use the money to expand in Europe.

Ankorstore says it will use the fresh funding to expand its customer base of 5,000 brands and 50,000 independent retailers in Europe. It also wants to support these same customers while they are slowly reopening their businesses now lockdowns are lifted.

A need for flexible financing and tools

“Recently, there have been many corona measures leading to the temporary closure of non-essential stores. This created a need among independent stores for flexible financing and tools to quickly adapt their product range. Ankorstore supported retailers during lockdowns by helping them keep a close eye on their cash flow, speed up adjustments and manage their inventory as accurately as possible”, co-founder Nicolas D’Audiffret explains.

Investing in European markets

According to Nicolas Cohen, also co-founder of the French wholesale marketplace, the corona crisis has shown how resilient Ankorstore’s business model is. “Despite the closure of most stores in Europe, we have continued to grow incredibly fast over the past six months. We will invest heavily in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden to continue serving our customers.”