E-pay firm Bigcommerce gears up for growth

Online payments platform Bigcommerce has recruited ex-PayPal Europe chief Brent Bellm to head the technology venture.

Australian online commerce payments platform Bigcommerce has recruited former PayPal Europe chief Brent Bellm to head up the technology venture as it gears up for global expansion and a possible Australian stockmarket listing.

Mr Bellm succeeds chief executive and Bigcommerce co­-founder Eddie Machaalani, who will remain with the company as executive chairman.

Before joining Bigcommerce, Mr Bellm was the president and chief operating officer of US-based rental marketplace firm HomeAway, which is valued at almost $US3 billion ($3.9bn) and has property listings in 190 ­countries.

Bigcommerce, which is eyeing further expansion in the US, provides online stores, website building and marketing services, along with integration with payment platforms. According to the company, it now runs more than 95,000 stores including brands such as Samsung, Gibson, Marvel, Cetaphil, Schwinn, Pergo and Enfamil.

Mr Bellm said he was excited to join the firm and that Bigcommerce was well placed to drive growth in the SME space.

Sydney-based Bigcommerce has been busy adding high-profile talent to its board, including ex-employees of Google, Amazon and Twitter. It also recently acquired US mobile retail firm Zing for a seven-figure sum.

Bigcommerce has raised $US125 million from investors including Telstra, General Catalyst, SoftBank, and American Express.

SoftBank Capital, the investment arm of Japan’s telecom giant SoftBank, led the Series D growth round, contributing cash and connections to help the start-up improve its product, leverage its recent partnership with Alibaba and expand internationally. Valuation at that time was north of $US500m.

TECHNOLOGY P26