Narvar snags $30 million in funding

Investment will be used for research and development, product innovation and hiring.    Narvar, a fast-growing tech company that strives to help retailers better engage with customers after they make online purchases, has garnered $30 million in a Series C funding round, led by venture capital firm Accel.
   Existing investors, including Battery Ventures, participated in the round, along with new investors Salesforce Ventures and Scale Venture Partners.
   In conjunction with the funding, Ryan Sweeney, a partner at Accel, will join Narvar’s board.
   Narvar said its software-as-a-service platform provides delivery-tracking analytics and delivery notifications, returns management, seamless feedback collection and timely customer communications.
   “Traditionally, retailers have been obsessed with acquisition and conversion, often neglecting the post-purchase phase of the journey. Narvar helps brands to engage customers at a time of high anticipation and build long-term loyalty with their customers,” the company explained.
   The latest funding will be used to ramp up product innovation and research and development efforts. The company also said it will be “aggressively hiring” to support its offices around the globe.
   Narvar is headquartered in San Francisco and has additional offices in London; Bengaluru, India; and München, Germany.
   “We’ll use this new investment to continue developing leading products for our customers while investing heavily in international growth to support global brands,” Narvar founder and CEO Amit Sharma said.
   Sharma, who founded Narvar in 2012, is a retail veteran with supply chain management experience at Apple, Walmart and Williams-Sonoma.
   Narvar had secured its Series A funding round, also led by Accel, in 2015, and in 2016, the company raised $22 million in a Series B funding round, which was led by Battery Ventures.
   In the last 12 months, Narvar has doubled revenue and employee headcount and added more than 100 brands to its roster of customers. The company serves more than 500 retailers in such industries as apparel, health and beauty, housewares, home improvement and electronics.
   “Accel has proudly been a Narvar partner from the start and has watched the company’s customer adoption, product innovation, employee culture and global market traction continue to flourish,” Sweeney said. “Over the last few years, Narvar has redefined e-commerce service standards by changing the way brands interact with their customers throughout the entire online purchase lifecycle.”
   Sharma said, “When we started Narvar just a few years ago, we set out to simplify the everyday lives of customers. We recognized a huge opportunity for brands to deliver exceptional post-purchase customer engagement and have helped retailers realize this vision for more than 300 million people. At the same time, e-commerce adoption has skyrocketed — in fact, more than 70 percent of adults online have interacted with Narvar through the retailers we support, and we anticipate this will continue.”