Bristol-based retail management software firm Brightpearl is poised for another period of rapid growth after raising $11m (£7.67m) in its latest round of financing.
The firm, which launched nine years ago in Bristol’s highly successful SETsquared innovation incubator, will use the funding to accelerate the growth of its sales and marketing organisation in the US, and to continue to scale its engineering, service and support teams to drive innovation and growth. 
Brightpearl, which also has an office in San Francisco, already supplies its innovative cloud-based inventory management and retail business platform to more than 1,400 customers in 30 countries ranging from small to medium independent retail to wholesale customers.
The latest round of funding has come from venture investors including Eden Ventures, MMC Ventures and Notion Capital, supplemented by a loan from Silicon Valley Bank and Columbia Lake Partners. It brings the total funding raised to $30.5m.
Brightpearl’s software is uniquely positioned in the market as the only fully integrated solution that combines accounting, inventory, purchasing, customer relationship management (CRM), shipping/fulfilment, point of sale (POS) and other modules to help manage every aspect of a growing retail business.
It enables multichannel retailers to manage their business operations easily through a single management system, helping them to accelerate growth and profits.
Brightpearl’s platform provides real-time reports on inventory, cashflow, profitability and customer purchase behavior. 
Brightpearl executive chairman and serial entrepreneur Charles Grimsdale, pictured, said: “Our customers continuously outperform the market and compete on par with large retailers, and we believe this is testament to the operational efficiencies that Brightpearl helps them deliver.
“Our customers sell globally on multiple channels both online and offline. They are highly innovative, and we are delighted that Brightpearl helps them to grow faster and achieve greater operational efficiencies.”
Craig Netterfield, managing partner at Columbia Lake Partners, added: “Brightpearl addresses a significant unmet need in a fast growing market. The team has developed a mission-critical platform that enables thousands of retail businesses to compete successfully. We founded Columbia Lake Partners to provide growth loans to leading European companies like Brightpearl. We’re very much looking forward to working with the team to continue building a phenomenal product and company.”
The accelerated growth and profits realised by streamlining operations helps Brightpearl customers establish themselves as leading brands in the market. Brightpearl customers have continuously outgrown the market with average same-store sales over Thanksgiving 2015 climbed 26% – far exceeding the US Retail Sales year-on-year average increase of 2.4%.
Andrew Hunter, director at Silicon Valley Bank, added: “This is an exciting time for Brightpearl. We’re delighted to provide debt funding at this milestone – enabling the team to accelerate growth in 2016 and beyond.
“The software Brightpearl provides its clients makes a big difference to their businesses, enhancing their ability to scale rapidly and stay efficient. Silicon Valley Bank is committed to the thriving SaaS market and we look forward to building a longstanding relationship with Brightpearl as it goes from strength to strength.”
