Bambuser raises $45M after shifting focus to live video shopping – ProWellTech
Bambuser is a name you may not have heard in a while, but the Stockholm-based company today announces that it has raised $ 45 million in new funding this year, including $ 34.5 million during the pandemic.
Bambuser The story goes back more than a decade (the first ProWellTech coverage appeared in 2008). CEO Maryam Ghahremani told me that the founders’ idea of using smartphones to stream live video journalism made them “very, very ahead of their time”.
It is not always good to be ahead of your time, however, and Ghahremani that the company is also struggling with “too little capital” (although it does) listed on Nasdaq First North 2017) and also with transforming its technology into a great product and scalable business model.
So, two years ago, Ghahremani was made to change all of that. She told me that she soon saw an opportunity for live video shopping to grow, especially in China, and potential customers were wondering if Bambuser had any products for it. That wasn’t the case back then, but it quickly shifted focus and launched its first live video shopping products last fall.
“We did not plan that the pandemic would hit the world,” said Gharemani. “We started because we believe this will be the future of retail.”
At the same time, she suggested that the pandemic – and the resulting stalemate and struggles in brick and mortar retailing – had accelerated the transition and given Bambuser’s business a big boost. The company’s offer has been used by brands such as H&M, Motivi, Moda Operandi, Frame, LUISAVIAROMA and Showfields. In the second quarter, net sales increased 669% year over year.
Maryan Ghahremani, CEO of Bambuser
As e-commerce and social media platforms expand their support in this area, Gharemani says brands are turning to Bambuser because they want to deliver that live shopping experience while owning the brand experience, customer data, and transaction itself.
She also stressed that Bambuser focuses on being a business-to-business product, not a consumer shopping platform.
“We try not to create another Instagram, Facebook or marketplace because we believe others [companies] do that, “she said. “We’re not even interested in going into this battle. What we’re trying to do, what we have to do is help the bigger brands. “
Participants in the new financing include Consensus Asset Management, Handelsbanken, Harmony Partners, Lancelot Asset Management, Tenth Avenue Holdings and TIN Fonder.
Gharemani said, among other things, she was hoping to establish a physical presence in the United States earlier this year, but those plans have been delayed by the pandemic. Still, she now plans to open an office in New York this quarter. In the meantime, the US has already become the company’s largest market.
