Mirakl Acquisition Builds Strength in Cross-Border Invoicing for B2B Marketplaces

If a British marketplace hosts a German seller selling to a French customer, figuring out how to meet the varying regulations surrounding the value-added tax can be difficult. How, for instance, should it be reported — and who pays it? 

Untangling the idiosyncrasies of region-specific invoicing is one of many challenges that two partnering companies in the space hope to tackle. On Nov. 9, Mirakl, a provider of an enterprise marketplace platform for both B2C and B2B, announced its acquisition of Octobat, a French startup specializing in invoice compliance for enterprises throughout the world. 

“[Region-specific invoicing] is where Octobat brings the tools, workflows and built-in mapping of the regulations so we can address it much faster,” Adrien Nussenbaum, co-founder and co-CEO of Mirakl, told PYMNTS. 

Dealing With Complexities 

The online marketplace economy has undergone a profound shift over the last decade. Companies that were once eBay Power Sellers, for example, are now operating marketplaces of their own, selling on others’ marketplaces or doing a combination of both. 

“This has resulted in incremental complexity in the way all the back-office experiences of the marketplace are managed” at those companies, Nussenbaum said. 

Mirakl had been helping companies on that journey for the last 10 years, Nussenbaum said. The platform already helps them onboard new suppliers, expand their product catalogs and manage customer care.

But, as more customers began expanding across industries and into cross-border trading, Mirakl saw a need to solve the additional complexities that came along with the expansion — invoicing compliance, in particular. 

“Not only is this a growth industry, but it’s an industry that keeps on changing, and you never know what’s coming,” Nussenbaum said. 

Solving Problems in Cross-Border Trading 

Mirakl has its roots in Europe and is also active in the U.S., so the company is familiar with juggling different demands of know your customer (KYC) standards, data protection and other forms of compliance. 

“We’ve been exposed to the need to be always ahead of those changes — or at least be in a position where your platform allows you to quickly adapt, and that’s kind of what this acquisition serves,” Nussenbaum explained. 

Purchasing from multiple vendors on the same marketplace also poses a challenge for B2B customers. For example, a company buying parts for a forklift might be buying them from multiple vendors on the same marketplace, and likely wants a consolidated invoice for everything. 

Mirakl and Octobat will be able to help its marketplace customers solve this problem. “We’ve done a lot of work on the Mirakl side in this consolidation of invoicing, and Octobat also helps us create compliance when regrouping multiple sellers on one invoice,” Nussenbaum said. 

Helping the Disruptors 

As it wraps up its acquisition of Octobat, Nussenbaum said Mirakl will look at acquiring other companies with know-how in areas that would add value to its ecosystem for its customers and their sellers. In the coming months, Nussenbaum expects other deals, aiming to make business easier for companies that are disrupting their way of doing business by adding a B2B marketplace. 

“I think that’s what makes our story fun: that we are helping the disruptors, and that often starts by disrupting yourself,” Nussenbaum said. “That’s not always the easiest thing to do, so it’s always an interesting, exciting journey for us to be on.”