News from the Wire

eCommerce enabler Reach secures $30m investment

Tuesday, March 22, 2022 — 09:57:17 (EDT)

March 22 2022, CALGARY, Alberta-- Reach, the leading global ecommerce payments enabler, has secured a $30 million investment, as it bids to accelerate its mission of unlocking a global customer base for merchants through a streamlined payments, tax and fraud platform.

The round, led by Vistara Growth, includes investment from Bluesky Equities, Tribune Capital, and Rising Tide. The capital will be used to dramatically scale up Reach’s development teams, with a focus on merchant success and onboarding, as well as expansion into new shopper geographies to help grow local acquiring networks for both merchants and partners.

With ecommerce cross-border transactions set to surge to an estimated $1.2 trillion in 2022, consumer trust in foreign merchants has never been higher, with more customers than ever looking beyond their own localities for their ideal purchase.

However, despite increased demand, many merchants continue to see cross-border ecommerce as complicated and expensive, while potential customers increasingly abandon carts on discovering the inability to transact in their own local currency, or when redirected to an unknown third-party checkout. What’s more, should a consumer overcome these hurdles, the transaction is often rejected when foreign payment processors are not integrated with popular local payment methods.

Reach’s seamless checkout experience provides customers with a localized experience leading to higher conversions and lower costs through the ability to dynamically transact in more than 120 local currencies with no currency risk and true local processing in more than 40 markets.

Sam Ranieri, CEO at Reach, comments: “Our pioneering solutions are helping companies to meet growing global customer demand through localized payment methods, optimized checkout conversions, and best-in-class fraud prevention services.

“Ecommerce giants, such as Apple, Amazon, Netflix, & Spotify to name a few, have the resources to open operations in every new market to set up local processing, have large treasury teams dedicated to managing currency risk, and heavyweight legal teams to comply with every country’s regulations and tax structures. The vast majority of businesses do not, thus creating a large competitive disadvantage.

“Our unique platform allows companies to leverage our vast entity and banking network, unlocking the true power of local currency and local payment processing while eliminating the complexity, cost, time, and risk to set up directly.

“We are proud of bootstrapping to significant scale and achieving a fourth consecutive year of 50% year-on-year growth. With demand accelerating, it was time to bring on experienced financial partners to help build on the foundations for our next phase of growth.”

Agustin Farias, VP of International at Everlane, comments: “We’ve worked with Reach and the whole team has been an extension of our business. Time and time again, it has been a key partner in our international growth and we are excited to see it fulfil the ambitious plans for expansion into new markets that will only be a positive for its merchant partners across the globe.”

The development of Reach’s dynamic, scalable solutions have helped businesses accept cross-border payments through localized processing, providing access to optimal foreign exchange currency services – increasing conversion rates and allowing small and medium-sized businesses to compete with some of the biggest names in the industry.

Noah Shipman, Partner at Vistara Growth, commented: “Reach is a unique company that is loved equally by sales and marketing, international operations, IT and finance teams at its merchant and marketplace customers. It is rare to find a solution that materially improves customer experience and conversions, is easily integrated, and dramatically lowers the cost of delivery.”

Derrick Hunter, President at Bluesky Equities, added: “Sam is building a strong team with incredible momentum in the fast-growing global payment processing market. Reach is a market disruptor that is doing something new, and Bluesky is excited to invest in this round.”

Reach’s model and platform is trusted by customers including innovative fashion brands Revolve and Everlane, jeweller James Allen, and high-growth digitally native consumer startups Current Body and BlendJet.

About Reach:

Reach is the premier partner for ambitious, forward-thinking online businesses that want to connect with consumers worldwide, expand their brand, and increase global sales. The Reach Way removes the barriers, complexity, and upfront costs blocking merchants from unlocking the true power of “in-country” payment processing. By leveraging Reach’s vast entity and banking network, companies can expand their global ecommerce, reduce operational costs, and offload risk. For more information, visit www.withreach.com. About Vistara:

Vistara Growth provides highly flexible growth debt and equity solutions to leading technology companies across North America. Founded, managed, and funded by seasoned technology finance and operating executives, “Vistara” (Sanskrit for “expansion”) is focused on enabling growth for the ambitious entrepreneurs we invest in, our investors, our people, and the communities we operate in. For more information, visit vistaragrowth.com

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Source: Company press release.