Backed up by tech and entertainment industry veterans and local investors, global print-on-demand company closes its Series A round.
Last month leading print-on-demand company Printify closed Series A funding round and raised a total of $50M. The latest investment round was joined by a number of experienced angel investors and founders from the Baltics to Silicon Valley bringing in their expertise and sharing knowledge for further expansion. Printify will use the majority of investment to grow its team and develop the marketplace globally. Meanwhile $10M of the funds have been paid directly to the company’s long-term employees after selling their own shares.
Over 40 investors of leading technology and entertainment industry companies supported Printify’s vision of transforming the world from mass manufacturing to on demand production. Founders of Wise, Vinted, Squarespace, FJ Labs, Change Ventures and entertainment industry players such as Will Smith’s Dreamers VC and Shaun Neff are just some of the experts who contributed to Printify’s funding round offering their advice and sharing the network of contacts. As disclosed before, these investors joined the round, led by Index Ventures, H&M Group and Virgin Group, and some of them had already put their trust in Printify in its first funding round back in 2019.
Within six years Printify has grown into a thriving e-commerce platform that empowers over 2 million creators across the globe to build their own drop-shipping businesses independently with as little investment and risk as possible. It is also one of the first startup companies in the Baltics to grant stock options to employees who contribute to achieving its business goals. After closing the latest funding round, one-fifth of the total investment or $10M were split between Printify employees who sold their shares in the company, thus receiving an additional salary of up to six figures.
The new bonus system was implemented as a result of the recent stock option legislation approved by Latvian government. It now allows Latvia-based startup employees the right to purchase the company’s stock at a certain price and makes it easier for startups to hire, scale and grow. In addition, according to the Not Optional campaign run by Index Ventures at the beginning of this year, Latvia was ranked the most startup friendly country in the world, based on its current stock option policies. That also allows Printify to attract smart talent and expand its global team.
“Series A investment round is just the beginning for us, and it goes to show that Printify’s growth potential is unlimited. We are proud to have built trust in some of the world’s leading investors and we will use their expertise and knowledge to continue the global expansion and grow our team. I truly believe that the real success of the company lies in giving our employees an opportunity to start a business of their own using their shares. I would like to therefore encourage other entrepreneurs to also use it in their favour and build a startup that has a full potential to become the next big success story,” James Berdigans, founder and CEO of Printify comments.
Today Printify employs over 620 people from all over the world, doubling the employee headcount over the past year and adding several new positions each week. There are currently more than 70 open vacancies available across product, engineering, marketing and design teams for industry talents with marketplace experience, most of them being fully remote-friendly.
Full Series A Investor List: Index Ventures, H&M Group, Virgin Group, Change Ventures, Kevin Ryan, FJ Labs, Blue Ivy Ventures, Mantas Mikuckas, Dreamers VC, Taavet Hinrikus, Eva Lau, Anthony Casalena, Bob Young, Paul Gardi, Scott Belsky, Cooley, James Blouzard, Ott Kaukver, Shiva Rajarman, Alok Gupta, Eastward Cap, Pareto20, Pat Shah, Shaun Neff, Tripple Point Cap, Thomas Plantenga, Andrew Lumey, Casey Winters, Christopher North, Rob Eldrige, Vivay Kumar, Brian Hale, Rohini Pandhi, Arvi Kass, Kairi Pauskar, Han Shu, Jess Liu-Brown, Roman Rossov, Bohdan Bayliuk, Sander Daniels, Danti Chen, Ilya Leyrix, Andrea Luigi Raimondi, Crystal Widjaja, JMK Investments, Marek Unt, Erik Kaju.
