Cross-border e-commerce services provider Global-e agreed on Wednesday to acquire US-based cross-border e-commerce tools provider Flow Commerce for up to $500m, marking an exit for corporates American Express and Li & Fung Group.
The deal involves a base payment of $425m and another $75m contingent on certain financial milestones in 2021.
Founded in 2015, Flow has developed artificial intelligence-equipped software that helps brands reach customers in external markets, factoring in localised payments, international shipping and sales taxes.
The deal will enable Global-e to strengthen its ability to work across borders, and in turn boost an exclusive relationship with e-commerce marketplace Shopify.
American Express Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for payment services firm American Express, took part in a $37m series B round for the company in late 2019 alongside venture capital firms New Enterprise Associates and Latitude Ventures.
Private equity firm Bain Capital’s VC arm, Bain Capital Ventures, led Flow’s series A round, which included supply chain services firm Li & Fung Group’s Fung Capital subsidiary and Forerunner Ventures and which closed at $18.8m the previous year.
The company is also backed by private investors including Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, Brian Lee, Shan-Lyn Ma, David Tisch and Alexis Maybank.
Rob Keve, Flow’s co-founder and chief executive, said: “Flow’s technology powers dozens of emerging brands with a fast-to-deploy and easy-to-manage cross-border solution. As the cross-border e-commerce market continues to grow, we believe that Global-e is the ideal partner for us.
“We believe that joining forces with Global-e will enable us to further expand our platform and solution capabilities for our existing merchant partners, accelerate our reach into new brands worldwide and help fuel our continued growth.”
