Tradeshift Notches $240M As IPO Is Postponed

Supply chain FinTech Tradeshift has raised $240 million from new and existing investors, but is holding off on an initial public offering (IPO) in favor of focusing on profitability, the company announced on Tuesday (Jan. 14).

The funding will be used to help accelerate growth and fuel momentum across its core products, including ePayables SaaS solution Tradeshift Pay and Tradeshift Go. The funds will also support the monetization of its trade finance proposition across a user base of over two million suppliers.

The company has experienced more than two years of strong growth; 2019 was its best year since it was founded in 2005. Revenue growth was more than 60 percent last year, when Tradeshift closed over 300 enterprise deals. Over 40 percent of transaction volume took place in the last year.

“It’s clear that the investor community has a strong focus on growth combined with profitability, and they like our plan,” said Christian Lanng, CEO of Tradeshift. “As a network business, growth is always going to be a key part of our story. But it’s also important that we manage that growth responsibly.”

Lanng told a news outlet that he believes a shift is taking place, “from cloud businesses to networked businesses,” and that people and businesses will opt more for single-use tools. “The fact that both Microsoft and Salesforce bid for LinkedIn shows that we have moved into a network era,” he added.

As Tradeshift moves toward profitability, it is also looking to reel in expenses and allocate enough resources to high-performance areas of the company.

“As we reach the next phase in the maturity of our business, our focus for the coming year will be about doubling down in areas where we’re seeing the greatest momentum while continuing to ensure we have the necessary balance in place to fully capitalize on the enormous opportunities in front of us,” said Lanng.

A $250 million funding round received in 2018 valued Tradeshift in excess of $1.1 billion, the company said.

Previous investors included Goldman Sachs, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, HSBC, H14, GP Bullhound and others. Last month, Tradeshift slashed cross-border supplier-buyer transaction fees by tapping the public Ethereum blockchain.

In February, Tradeshift dropped plans to acquire B2B payments firm Basware. The two firms first started discussing a possible deal in November of 2018.