Merge Raises $15M Series A to Simplify B2B Integrations

Merge Secures $15 Million Series A Funding to Expand B2B Integration Platform

Merge, a platform specializing in B2B integrations, has announced the successful completion of a $15 million Series A funding round. The investment was spearheaded by Addition, with continued support from NEA, who previously led the company’s $4.5 million seed funding round. Several angel investors also participated in this latest financing.

New Partnerships and Platform Growth

Alongside the funding announcement, Merge revealed new partnerships with prominent HR providers, BambooHR, and the application tracking system, Lever. These collaborations aim to broaden the platform’s reach and capabilities.

According to co-founders Shensi Ding and Gil Feig, the platform has experienced significant growth since its seed funding. The number of companies utilizing Merge has increased from approximately 100 to 600, now including a number of publicly traded organizations.

Focus on Enterprise Needs and Feature Enhancements

In response to the evolving needs of larger clients, Merge has invested in developing advanced tools. These include single-tenant hosting options for enterprises requiring enhanced security assurances.

Further enhancements have been implemented, such as CSV upload functionality, SAML SSO integration, custom field mapping capabilities, and more comprehensive logging features.

Vision: Becoming the Standard for B2B Integrations

Merge’s overarching goal is to establish itself as the leading standard for B2B integrations. Currently, the platform concentrates on key areas like HR, payroll, accounting, and recruiting.

However, Ding emphasized the company’s intention to expand its scope. “We are planning on crossing many categories and not only focusing on a few,” she stated. “This was just the beginning.”

Differentiating from Broad Integration Platforms

The founders highlighted a key differentiator: comprehensive coverage within specific categories. They observed that overly broad integration platforms often lack support for all the platforms used by their customers.

“Having comprehensive coverage in existing categories has been really huge for us,” Ding explained. This ensures a wider range of customer integrations are supported.

Positioning as a Customer-Facing Integration Tool

Feig clarified that Merge is not positioned as a workflow automation platform competing with solutions like Microsoft’s Power Automate. Instead, the platform is designed to empower B2B companies to create robust, customer-facing integrations.

The average B2B company manages integrations with numerous vendors, which can often be unreliable. Merge provides a unified API to streamline and stabilize these connections.

Unified API vs. Workflow Automation

Feig explained the distinction between Merge’s approach and traditional workflow automation. “They really are still workflow automation, which are mainly beneficial for internal use cases.”

He continued, “The benefit overall of what we’re doing is the fact that we’re unified, the fact that you get 20, 30, 40 API’s all unified into a single format. That one build produces all of those integrations whereas those classic workflow products…still require you to build one-by-one.”

Future Expansion and Investment

Currently, Merge supports approximately 50 integrations. The newly acquired funding will be allocated towards expanding into new categories and bolstering the engineering and sales teams.

Investor Perspective

Lee Fixel, Founder of Addition, commented on the investment: “Merge is revolutionizing customer-facing integrations in the B2B space by helping developers integrate fast and integrate once.”

Fixel added, “Their track record demonstrates Merge is solving a common problem with the right product, and we’re excited to support the company on its continued growth trajectory.”