eCommerce Platform Magento Scores $250M

Open-source eCommerce platform provider Magento Commerce recently snagged a whopping $250 million in new funding from one of China’s largest investment firms, Hillhouse. This latest fundraising puts Magento Commerce’s valuation at more than $700 million, according to a person familiar with the deal.

In a statement, Magento Commerce said that the new money will fund a global expansion, particularly in Asia, of both its sales and marketing operations. Additionally, the funding will reportedly be used to reinforce customer support and to boost product development, as well as any potential acquisitions.

Magento, founded in 2008, provides the technology underlying a number of eCommerce websites, including Burger King, Fraport, Oliver Sweeney and Venroy, among others. Magento is used by many company websites to integrate payments into their portals. Additionally, Magento provides customers with control over the design, content and functionality of their eCommerce site, as well as marketing, search engine optimization and catalog management tools.

Mark Lavelle, CEO of Magento Commerce, reportedly said in a statement that Magento maintains a large global network of partners, which include system integrators supporting 250,000 customers. All told, these customers reportedly generate some $50 billion in sales each year.

This year’s new investment comes as a big boost to Magento following a bit of trouble from last year. In late Sept. 2016, it came to light that hackers had compromised some 400 retail sites running Magento by injecting malicious JavaScripts, which took users to a fake payment page where their information was stolen after it was entered.

In April of last year, Magento released its first-ever cloud platform. The platform allows merchants to provision and tailor the software as they wish without having to own the software and the infrastructure. The company also finalized a partnership with the Fraport Airport Group to provide omnichannel commerce support to travelers passing through Germany’s Frankfurt Airport.