The Venture Codex

Participated · Series A · Jan 2021

Tradeswell launched in October and builds a platform addressing six components of e-commerce businesses: marketing, retail, inventory, logistics, forecasting, lifetime value and financials. The product can fully automate certain processes, such as buying online ads, with the goal of improving net margins rather than just driving clicks or purchases. Tradeswell highlighted a case where a personal care brand doubled Prime Day sales and increased profits by 67% using the platform. At launch the company had 100 customers; that count has since grown to more than 150. Co-founder and CEO Paul Palmieri, who previously led Millennial Media, says the startup will continue investing in the product and building more integrations to make data more liquid and enable more real-time decisions. Tradeswell is developing a SaaS platform aimed at solving the underlying economic challenges of ecommerce and acting as an unbiased advocate for brands. The company is in building mode and plans to share more product details publicly in coming months. Tradeswell has offices in Baltimore and San Francisco and is eyeing a move from Brewers Hill HUB to office space in Natty Boh Tower later this year. The founding team includes CEO Paul Palmieri, president Haley Ulloa, Geoff Kenawell, Jesse Leikin, and Ron Puggi, and the company has a 17-member team with ecommerce and adtech veterans. Financially, Tradeswell disclosed a $3.3 million seed funding round raised over a two-week period in early June.

Led · Equity · Sep 2020

Pharmapacks provides a proprietary technology platform that delivers logistics, fulfillment, marketing and sales services to brands selling on marketplaces such as Amazon, Walmart, Google, eBay and Facebook. The platform is designed to enable brands to focus on product research and development while Pharmapacks handles marketplace operations. The company is led by CEO Andrew Vagenas and employs 850 people. Pharmapacks operates as both an ecommerce enablement provider and a retail seller for brands. The article does not disclose revenue or other financial metrics beyond recent financings. Pharmapacks operates a proprietary e-commerce technology platform that provides logistics, fulfillment, marketing and sales solutions for brands on marketplaces such as Amazon, Walmart, Google, eBay and Facebook. The company serves as a launch pad for emerging and lesser-known brands by providing access to its platform and consumer base while brands focus on product R&D. Led by CEO Andrew Vagenas, Pharmapacks employs a team of eCommerce experts with over 10 years' experience and ~850 employees. The company reached over $250M in sales in 2019 and was on a run rate to achieve more than 70% year-over-year growth, with an expectation of 100% year-over-year growth in Q4 after opening a 230k sq ft replenishment center in late Q3. Pharmapacks intends to use the financing to accelerate its expansion plans. Pharmapacks operates a proprietary e-commerce technology platform that helps brands reach consumers through logistics, fulfillment, marketing and sales. The company sells direct-to-consumer via Pharmapacks.com and through online marketplaces including Amazon, Walmart.com and eBay. It runs a 140,000 square foot warehouse in Islandia, New York, maintains an in-house technology team building automated assistance tools, and partners with Sealed Air on the I-Pack® system. Pharmapacks’ catalog comprises 28,000 unique items and the business processes and ships over 30,000 orders per day to all 50 U.S. states and Canada. The company employs about 350 people and plans to grow that headcount by 20 percent, scale its warehouse, advance automation and expand inventory and delivery reach into Europe, Asia and beyond.