Wizaplace raises 13 million euros to become leader in creating B2B marketplaces

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Lyon, the 23rd of September 2019

Wizaplace, SaaS solution publisher for building all-in-one marketplaces, has announced a 13 million euros financing round, to equip companies with new trading platforms and shake up their systems for purchases, sales and distribution networks. The deal was led by Bpifrance, via its Ambition Numérique Fund (FAN), and CM-CIC Innovation, supported by Omnes. Wizaplace has already raised 3 million euros, in two rounds in 2015 and 2017.

Initially intended for e-commerce, Wizaplace, the new wonder of the “platform economy”, is now mainly targeting the B2B sector. Its flexible offer covers all the uses of a company whether internally, or related to the distribution of products and services.

“We will have the necessary means to deliver the full potential of our model, says Eric Alessandri, CEO of Wizaplace: allowing companies to easily and quickly create marketplaces for all types of projects: e-commerce, e-procurement, digitalization networks of B2B circular economy franchises or marketplaces. We fill a market anomaly, says Alessandri: marketplaces are a standard functional need, but too rarely identified, which effectively supports companies’ digital transformation. Our SaaS solution allows several functions to be “platformed”. And we want to become global leader of these marketplace solutions for businesses.”

With this latest round of funding, the “scale-up” is geared at extending the functional scope of its product to make it even more powerful and expand internationally, especially in Europe. “This capital commitment will enable us to move up to the next level and market our solution to our European neighbours. We already have very strong traction in France, the goal is now to extend it to other markets”, explains Alessandri.

Already with a 50-strong staff, Wizaplace plans to strengthen its workforce, doubling the technical team by mid-2020 and recruiting new talent for sales, marketing, product and support teams. The company will move to Lyon by the end of 2019, to a new 1,100 m2 premises.

According to Tuan Tran, Investment Director w6 Bpifrance’s Digital Ventures team: “One of the most determining trends of the 21st century for the retail market has been online marketplaces. The wave of platforming continues to spread beyond e-commerce or B2C and we are convinced that Wizaplace is ideally placed to take advantage of the emergence of B2B marketplaces.”

Maxence Valero, Associate at CM-CIC Innovation, adds: “In a short time Wizaplace has become the key player in the digital transformation of companies. Whether in purchasing, e-commerce or store franchise processes, the challenges evoked by many companies regarding their digital transformation are reflected in the use of Wizaplace tools. International development will be a key step in the success of this project. Digital is a major focus of CM-CIC Innovation’s investments. We are pleased to be able to support the Wizaplace teams in the long term.”

Francois-Xavier Dedde, Director at Omnes, adds: “With its technology platform, Wizaplace offers its customers the ability to digitize their trade in goods and services. The investment in Wizaplace is fully in line with Omnes’ strategy of accompanying tech gems in their hyper growth phase.”

Wizaplace was advised by Cambon Partners in this round of funding.

About Wizaplace
Founded in 2012, Wizaplace has developed an all-in-one marketplace creating platform. The Saas solution brings in one unique environment all the functionalities needed to create marketplaces for B2B and B2C products or services. It natively integrates the back-office administrator to operate the platform on a daily basis, back-office sellers to aggregate third party catalogue, and the front office, the marketplace’s front display. Wizaplace offers a robust and complete solution, delivered on a turnkey basis, making it possible to accelerate the deployment of marketplaces for project developers. Among its customers, the company has start-ups, SMEs and large groups (Macif, Engie, Somfy, Arkea, FFF, Cash Converters, Atalian). Located in Lyon, Wizaplace also has offices in Paris 16.
Website: www.wizaplace.com
Press contact: Alain Laidet, +33 6 33 34 51 87, alain@wizaplace.com

About Bpifrance
Bpifrance is the French national investment bank: it finances businesses – at every stage of their development – through loans, guarantees, equity investments and export insurances. Bpifrance also provides extra-financial services (training, consultancy) to help entrepreneurs meet their challenges (innovation, export). For more information, please visit: www.bpifrance.fr and presse.bpifrance.fr
Follow us on Twitter: @Bpifrance – @BpifrancePresse
Press contact: Christophe Menger, +33 1 41 79 95 26, christophe.menger@bpifrance.fr

About CM-CIC Innovation
CM-CIC Innovation is the subsidiary belonging to CM-CIC Investissement (€3.0 billion in capital and member of Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale), which specializes in venture capital investments. Its goal is to invest in companies developing promising technologies. CM-CIC Innovation selects companies with strong growth potential in dynamic sectors such as information technology, telecommunications, electronics, life sciences, new materials and the environment. For more than 15 years, CM-CIC Innovation has invested – and often reinvests – its own capital to support innovative companies to their market. CM-CIC Innovation’s policy is to provide long-term capital support to innovative start-ups to streamline their chances of success.
Website: www.cmcic-investissement.com
Press contact: Sandrine Olive, sandrine.olive@cmcic.fr

About Omnes
Omnes is a leading Paris-based European investor in private equity and infrastructure. With €3.6 billion of assets under management, Omnes provides SMEs with the capital needed to finance growth. The firm has dedicated investment teams across three key areas: Venture Capital, Buyout & Growth Capital and Infrastructure. With more than 60 trade sales and nearly 15 IPOs in 20 years (including Novaled, Biovex, arGEN-X and Direct Energie), Omnes Venture Capital team is a leading French player in financing innovative SMEs with dual expertise in the deep-tech and healthcare sectors. Its current portfolio includes AB Tasty, BlaBlaCar, Scality and Sigfox. Omnes is owned by its employees. Omnes is committed to ESG issues and has set up the Omnes Foundation in aid of children’s charities. It is also a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).
Website:www.omnescapital.com
Press Contacts:
Omnes: Gaëlle de Montoussé, gaelle.demontousse@omnescapital.com – +33 1 80 48 79 16
Brackendale Consulting: Fay Margo, fay@brackendaleconsulting.com – +44 7962 1115825

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