Firework Closes $150M SoftBank Vision Fund 2-Led Series B to Continue to Build the Future of Commerce
PR96176
SAN MATEO, Calif., May 24, 2022 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --
- Livestreaming commerce leader receives major leg-up in bid to redefine
customer experience and engagement for Web 3.0
Firework [
], the leading livestreaming commerce and digital transformation platform, has
secured $150 million in Series B financing, led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 [
].
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The announcement comes as public sentiment towards Big Tech's "walled-gardens"
- the large, closed ecosystems typified by the likes of Facebook and Amazon -
grows increasingly strained. Facebook parent company Meta's recent announcement
that it will charge a 47.5% fee on all transactions on its Horizon Worlds
metaverse app was the most recent flashpoint to emerge from the debate around
Internet centralization.
With the newly acquired funds, Firework aims to accelerate growth across a
variety of metrics in pursuit of a bold, long-term vision to reshape the
digital landscape with its decentralized infrastructure on which organizations
can engage and transact with customers and audiences on their own properties
and terms. In the near term, the company aims to increase talent acquisition in
engineering, product and marketing, and deliver several enhancements to its
overall platform.
"With this investment, our growth engine is firing on all cylinders," said
Firework Co-Founder and CEO Vincent Yang. "Our core technology and business
model have already been proven in the market many times over, and with this
capital to realize our vision, Firework can now focus most of our efforts on
evolution and growth, in all its forms - growing our team, growing our user
base, and growing our technology, to ensure the Firework platform never loses
step with the bleeding edge of next-generation customer experience."
Success Begets Success
The outcome of Firework's Series B funding round can be attributed in large
part to a litany of successes stretching back to Q1 2021. With multiple
blockbuster customer and partner acquisitions - such as Albertsons Companies,
The Fresh Market, and Omnicom Media Group - a strategic investment partnership
with American Express Ventures, and numerous high-profile leadership hires,
Firework has emerged as the clear frontrunner in the race to lead North
America's still-nascent livestream commerce market.
In China, livestream commerce generated over $300 billion in sales [
] in 2021, representing approximately 12% of overall retail ecommerce sales,
and is expected to reach nearly 20% in 2023. The North American market, on the
other hand, clocked in at less than $6 billion [
], representing just 0.1% of overall online sales. The immensity of the
opportunity therein wasn't lost on Firework's co-founders, Vincent Yang and
Jerry Luk, when they launched the company in 2017. Nor has it gone unnoticed by
investors. Firework has raised over $235 million in funding to date.
But Vision Determines Its Value
"Short videos and livestreaming are now the default language for the digital
era, which is reshaping how consumers engage with brands and products online,"
said Linda Yu, Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers. "We believe Firework
empowers businesses to use video to transform their websites into social and
storytelling hubs so they can build deeper, long-term relationships with
customers. Vincent and Jerry have assembled an impressive team in the digital
commerce space and we're thrilled to partner with them to build a next
generation customer experience."
As part of the transaction, Linda Yu has joined Firework's Board of Directors.
"We chose to work with SoftBank Investment Advisers for a multitude of reasons,
from their unparalleled domain expertise in the ecommerce space to their
extensive network," said Firework Co-Founder and President Jerry Luk. "But
above all else, we chose Softbank Investment Advisers because of their shared
vision. We have big ambitions at Firework - to become the infrastructure on
which the next-generation of the internet is built and run - and Softbank
Investment Advisers supports that vision."
About Firework
Firework is the global leader in humanizing the open web through the language
of video. Leveraging shoppable video, live streaming commerce and powerful
monetization capabilities, Firework empowers the world's most dynamic and
exciting retailers, consumer brands, and publishers to build engaging video
experiences on their owned and operated digital properties and across channels
at a global scale. Firework enables organizations to bring new levels of
authenticity and connection to online video experiences, speaking to digital
natives in the language they understand fully-and taking control of their own
customer data. The company has raised over $235 million in capital to date. To
learn more, please visit firework.com [
].
Media Contact
Fatimah Nouilati
Scratch Marketing + Media for Firework
fatimah@scratchmm.com
SOURCE Firework
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