Alkemics has raised €21 million in a Series C funding round led by Highland Europe with participation from Cathay Innovation, Index Ventures, SEB Alliance and Serena Capital.

Since raising €20 million in 2016, the Paris-based startup has worked with grocery retailers in France and the UK - including Tesco, Ocado, Casino, E.Leclerc and Intermarché - to digitise their commercial processes with more than 17,000 brands. Its platform connects retailers to multinational suppliers and small local producers.

Alkemics will use the investment to launch in other parts of Europe, beginning with Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and parts of Scandinavia.

Co-founder and chief executive Antoine Durieux commented: “Any manufacturer should be able to put a product on the market as easily as if they were posting a message on a social network, and any store should be able to find the products that consumers are looking for by simply searching through an app.

“Our platform is helping thousands of suppliers and retailers across Europe to work closely together, to simplify their collaboration, to speed up products go-to-market and to ensure that product data is always as transparent and up to date as possible."

Tony Zappala, partner at Highland Europe, said: “The last two months have demonstrated to everyone how retail technology is a critical part of our infrastructure - Alkemics’ high level of technological functionality and ultra-flexible data model can tackle all different verticals in the retail industry and is therefore able to respond rapidly and effectively to unprecedented levels of demand, at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic in Europe.

“As things start to return to normal, retailers and suppliers will want to continue with this new digitised collaboration through the platform, which has helped to increase their productivity as well as ensuring that the shopper has all the information they need to make an informed purchase.”

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