Knowde
Assembly Line
Knowde raises Series C at a valuation cut
The San Jose-based startup raised $60 million in a round that values it lower than the $500 million valuation it garnered in its most recent round, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. This round values the company at north of 20x ARR, according to a source familiar with the transaction. The round included new investors: Blue Cloud Ventures and Point72 Private Investments in addition to existing backer Sequoia.
Knowde raises $72 million Series B led by Coatue
Knowde, the leading marketplace for ingredients, polymers and chemistry, announced that it has raised $72 million in Series B financing led by Coatue. Existing investors Sequoia Capital, Refactor Capital, Bee Partners and Cantos Ventures are also participating in this round, alongside new investors Sound Ventures, a venture capital firm founded by Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary; TQ Ventures, founded by Schuster Tanger, Andrew Marks, and Scooter Braun; K5 Global; and, Mantis VC, in partnership with The Chainsmokers. With this round, Knowde will invest in product development for new buyer and supplier features, further enhancements to its ecommerce capabilities, and international expansion opportunities.
With Knowde, for the first time ever, buyers can search, compare, sample, quote and purchase products from every producer on earth — all in one place. Suppliers get the leading-edge technology they need to extend their market reach, lower cost of sales and provide their customers with the online buying experience they desire.
Knowde recently expanded its presence to cover every major vertical across the entire industry. Knowde now has thousands of supplier storefronts on its platform — more than any distributor, marketplace or middleman organization in the history of the industry.
Knowde Raises $14 Million Series A Led by Sequoia Capital to Transform the Global Marketplace for Chemicals and Ingredients
Knowde, an online marketplace connecting more than 700 major producers with customers around the globe, announced it has raised $14 million in Series A financing led by Sequoia Capital with participation from Refactor Capital, Bee Partners, Cantos Ventures and Knollwood Investment Advisory. Just as marketplaces have modernized many major industries before, Knowde is now bringing this same experience to chemicals and ingredients. The new funding follows on the heels of Knowde partnering with DuPont, DSM, Braskem, Sasol and many other major suppliers.
For more than a century, the world’s chemical and ingredient producers have relied on outside sales teams, brochures, catalogs and other traditional sales and marketing tactics with great success, representing $5 trillion in annual sales and impacting more than 25 percent of global GDP. More recently though, increased globalization, buyer preferences for a more digital and automated experience, and a changing supplier landscape have put pressure on producers to modernize their business practices and make marketing their products more efficient. Knowde is the first two-sided digital marketplace that is helping producers digitally transform their businesses. By joining the Knowde marketplace, hundreds of producers have already streamlined their businesses, acquired new customers and tapped new revenue streams.