Orderchamp, a digital purchasing platform for retailers, has received growth capital to continue its European conquest. The company is strongly committed to machine learning to predict sales success.
Alternative to trade fairs
A digital wholesaler, that’s how you could describe Orderchamp: retailers can use the online platform to buy products for their own (web) shop. Benefits include low minimum orders, a 60-day payment term and free shipping. Meanwhile, 30,000 European retailers – often independent entrepreneurs – are already using the platform. The customers are located mostly in the Benelux, Germany and France. Some 10,000 Belgian retailers together account for 35% of turnover.
The corona crisis has accelerated growth. For more than 1,800 European brands, Orderchamp represents a new acquisition channel, now that trade fairs have been absent for over a year. The platform uses quality criteria with which retailers can distinguish themselves, such as handmade, natural, sustainable or ethical. Based on algorithms, retailers receive recommendations from the range of more than 200,000 products.
Powerful technology
The Dutch company is now raising 16.5 million euros in growth capital for further expansion in Europe. The money comes from Prime Ventures, which previously also invested in TakeAway.com. Existing investor henQ and a number of business angels are also participating in the financing round.
“The majority of the investment will be used to expand the international brand offering, improve the digital purchasing experience and further develop our powerful technology (including machine learning and integrations with commerce systems),” says founder and CEO Joost Brugmans. Based on the purchasing and sales data of tens of thousands of retailers, the company wants to better predict whether a product will sell in the shop in question.
