Carro Raises $20M to Revolutionize Brand & Influencer Cross-Selling

The Challenge of Influencer Marketing and Carro's Solution

Businesses continually seek innovative methods to reach prospective customers. While influencer marketing has experienced significant expansion, identifying the appropriate influencer remains a challenge for many brands.

Introducing Carro: A Cross-Store Selling and Influencer Platform

Founded in 2015 by David Perry and Jason Goldberg, Carro addresses this challenge. The company has developed a platform facilitating both cross-store sales and influencer commerce.

Currently, Carro boasts a network of over 7 million influencers and 30,000 brands, including well-known names like Blendjet, Arizona Iced Tea, and Chubbies Shorts.

How Carro Works: Streamlining Brand Partnerships

Carro integrates seamlessly with Shopify through its App Store. This integration allows brands to partner and sell each other’s products without the complexities of inventory management, logistics, or handling returns.

Furthermore, the platform offers a feature enabling brands to identify influencers who are already advocates of their products, fostering and strengthening these valuable relationships.

Expanding Product Offerings Through Partnerships

CEO Perry explained to TechCrunch that when a customer makes a purchase, such as a bicycle, related items are often needed concurrently. “We help merchants showcase complementary products to their customers.”

He illustrated this with an example: “If you sell makeup but not brushes, you can easily add brushes to your store without incurring inventory costs.”

The Evolution of Influencer Marketing and Carro's Growth

Goldberg highlighted that Carro’s inception coincided with the early stages of influencer marketing. At that time, many individuals had substantial followings but lacked a straightforward means of connecting with brands.

The landscape has dramatically shifted since then. The global influencer marketing market has more than doubled since 2019 and was projected to reach $13.8 billion in valuation by 2021.

Rapid Expansion and Series B Funding

This growth has directly benefited Carro, experiencing over 500% growth in the past year, according to Perry. To accommodate this surge in demand, the company successfully secured $20 million in Series B funding.

Alpha Edison led the funding round, with participation from PayPal Ventures, GC1 Ventures, Corazon Capital, and a cohort of existing Carro users.

Alpha Edison's Perspective on Carro

Nate Redmond, managing partner at Alpha Edison, stated that Carro “presents a compelling new way for brands to grow, by building direct relationships with customers without spending all of their profits on online advertising.”

He further added, “We’ve been impressed with the pace at which the Carro team innovates and utilizes deep customer insights to deliver optimal results for customers.”

Future Plans: Team Growth, Product Development, and Network Expansion

With this new funding, Carro’s total funding to date reaches $30 million. These funds will be allocated to expanding the company’s team of 50 employees, enhancing product development, and broadening its network.

Impressive Network Statistics

Currently, Carro’s network encompasses over 1 million products and attracts 320 million visitors each month.

Empowering Small Merchants

Goldberg expressed satisfaction in witnessing the positive impact on smaller merchants. “When a smaller merchant, who was packing orders in their garage, joins Carro, they get really busy and can supercharge their business without having to save up tons of money for Facebook ads.”