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We live in a time of instant and global commerce. We all discover new brands regularly from all over the world and expect seamless fulfillment and customer support as if we were walking into our neighborhood shop. However, what happens behind the scenes operationally to meet such consumer expectations is far from straightforward or optimized – and we believe this is one of the largest unsolved problems in eCommerce today.
The operational challenges merchants face by having international supply chains and a global customer base have been greatly amplified by recent geopolitical shifts, like Brexit and the dynamic tariff environment under the current Trump administration. As a result, maintaining compliance while consistently delivering a high-quality experience for customers globally has become increasingly difficult.
While the eCommerce software landscape for operational tools may appear to be crowded, the vast majority are point solutions that seek to solve isolated problems, which can ultimately challenge merchants to navigate multiple vendors and create unnecessary complexity. With the cross-border eCommerce market expected to hit $7.9 trillion by 2030, we believe the need for a unified, all-in-one solution has never been greater. Enter Swap: a company that we think is redefining eCommerce operations with a singular, streamlined, holistic platform. Today, ICONIQ Growth is excited to announce that we have led Swap’s Series B funding round as they work to build the future of eCommerce operations.
Founders Sam Atkinson and Zach Bailet experienced the frustrations of selling cross-border firsthand while running their own eCommerce store and consulting to some of the world’s largest brands. Their experiences inspired them to reimagine the operational technology stack for eCommerce with the vision of consolidating key merchant operations - inventory, cross-border logistics, and returns - into a seamless, data-driven, unified platform.
In March 2024, Swap released its Global product which pioneers an ‘Importer of Record’ model that can simplify duties, taxes, and cash flow in cross-border commerce while maintaining merchants’ control of cash flow and shipping. Looking ahead, Swap’s ambitious roadmap seeks to leverage its differentiated data advantage to continuously expand the platform and unlock even greater value for merchants. Swap Inventory, launching this year, introduces AI-powered price modelling, smart replenishment insights, and advanced forecasting capabilities that seek to enable more accurate and efficient forecasting across the entirety of a brand’s operations. By centralizing stock management, demand forecasting, and AI-driven recommendations, Swap hopes to continue to drive increased efficiency and growth for brands and allow them to deliver an exceptional experience to their customers regardless of where they may reside in the world.
During our market work, we heard repeatedly from Swap customers that they preferred Swap’s unified platform to not only reduce operational complexity, but also drive valuable insights and better results across operational workflows. Additionally, customers we spoke to consistently preferred Swap’s Importer of Record model by comparison to the traditional Merchant of Record model, which can limit flexibility and ultimately takes control of some of the merchant’s most valued assets – check-out and cash flow. As a result of Swap’s differentiated approach, it has seen rapid adoption, stickiness, and advocacy within the eCommerce landscape and the Shopify ecosystem across merchants of all sizes. Despite launching in 2022, Swap has already built deep relationships with global brands like Odd Muse, Pangaia, Joseph and Joseph, The Frankie Shop, and Retrofete, which we believe positions Swap as an important partner for eCommerce merchants scaling globally.
From our very first meeting with the Swap team, we were drawn to their mission, deep product vision, and relentless execution. Over the past year, Swap has continued to bring together experienced operators, talented engineers, and strategic advisors from the industry to fuel the company’s rapid growth. The pace of product innovation has been nothing short of exceptional – what started as a returns management solution quickly evolved into a comprehensive suite for eCommerce operations, covering returns, cross-border logistics, shipping, tracking, AI-powered insights and soon inventory management.
Building on its success in the UK, the company is accelerating growth in the US and EU and entering new markets like Canada and Australia all while further penetrating new verticals including retail, home goods, and consumer tech, where brands struggle with similar pain points.
At ICONIQ Growth, we are deeply aligned with Swap’s vision to consolidate the fragmented eCommerce tech stack into a seamless, end-to-end operating system. We could not be more excited to partner with the entire Swap team as they work to redefine how brands manage eCommerce operations on a global scale.
Published:
March 4, 2025
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