Convictional has landed $6.7 million in Series A funding from a number of high-profile investors.
Solo venture capitalist Lacy Groom, an early Stripe employee, led the round. Other investors included Claire Johnson, COO of Stripe; Scott Belsky, chief product officer of Adobe; Dave Cheesewright, former CEO of Walmart International; Ram Shriram, former board member, Alphabet; WndrCo; Zigg Capital, and other leading operators.
Convictional plans to use the funds to invest primarily in research and development in its supplier enablement platform and the growth of its network of connected suppliers and retailers.
“Trillions of dollars of world trade is communicated using technology created during World War II.”
The startup offers a B2B e-commerce platform to help vendors and brands manage inventory
“If you know what EDI stands for, you’ll know why Convictional needs to exist. Trillions of dollars of world trade is communicated using technology created during World War II,” said Groom.
EDI, or electronic data interchange, is used for the electronic exchange of business information.
Retailers and brands have historically used EDI, a pre-Internet protocol and data format, to transact with each other. EDI represents over $5 trillion worth of B2B trade in transaction volume, but is incompatible with modern sellers who use Application Programming Interface (API) based e-commerce platforms like Shopify.
Toronto-based Convictional hopes to replace EDI and become the digital backbone of B2B trade.
“Retailers are often embarrassed that they force their suppliers to onboard through the obstacle course that is EDI,” said Roger Kirkness, co-founder and CEO of Convictional. “Our mission is to level the playing field by connecting suppliers and their buyers, regardless of the systems they use. Just click a button to integrate, then start trading.”
Enterprise retailers such as Staples, Equinox, Scandiborn, and Harry Rosen rely on Convictional’s infrastructure to trade with third-party suppliers. Convictional claims their platform allows companies to expand their online and in-store assortments, reduce inventory risk, and onboard new suppliers faster.
Convictional targets online retailers looking to onboard and integrate with third-party brands and vendors in order to sell products without taking on inventory risk. The startup is looking to address what it says is a $1 trillion problem – the fragmentation of B2B ordering, which Convictional co-founder Chris Grouchy said creates friction for sales, IT, and e-commerce teams. Convictional’s solution is a centralized commerce platform that is meant to handle any order from any B2B customer.
In 2019 Convictional secured a $3 million seed round, after graduating Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator. Groom also led that round.
Grouchy and Kirkness are both former Shopify Plus team members who helped launch Shopify’s wholesale channel, and who launched Convictional in 2017.
