Rutter Raises $1.5M to Simplify E-commerce APIs

Rutter Launches with $1.5 Million to Unify E-commerce Data

Rutter, a company operating with a remote-first structure, is in the process of developing a comprehensive e-commerce API. This API is designed to facilitate connections for businesses, allowing them to access data from various platforms.

Seed Funding and Company Origins

The company publicly announced its emergence from stealth mode on Friday, alongside the news of securing $1.5 million in funding. Investors participating in this round include Haystack, Liquid 2, and Basis Set Ventures.

Eric Yu and Peter Zhou, the founders of Rutter, initially connected during their time in school. They began work on the project, which Zhou has described as “Plaid for commerce,” in 2017. Their participation in the Y Combinator summer 2019 cohort further propelled their development.

The Genesis of the E-commerce API Idea

The concept for the e-commerce API arose from their experiences in the education technology sector last year. Yu and Zhou were creating subscription kits and educational resources for parents navigating the challenges of remote learning during the pandemic.

Their vendor clients encountered difficulties listing their products on platforms like Amazon. To address this, they initially developed custom scripts. However, they quickly realized the need for a more universal solution, as separate scripts were required for each individual platform.

Rutter's Solution: A Single Integration Point

Rutter streamlines this process by enabling customers to connect to any platform using just one script. The company’s APIs integrate with major e-commerce platforms, including Shopify, Walmart, and Amazon.

This allows technology companies to build functionalities such as customer support systems and chatbots, as explained by Yu in an interview with TechCrunch.

Investor Confidence in Rutter's Potential

Lan Xuezhao, founding and managing partner at Basis Set Ventures, expressed strong enthusiasm for Rutter. She highlighted the founders’ dedication, resilience, and rapid product iteration as key factors.

Xuezhao further noted that Rutter’s progress reminded her of another team that successfully scaled a business to a valuation exceeding $7 billion.

“Having observed their progress over several years, it’s evident that they’ve created a powerful system – essentially the central nervous system for online commerce,” Xuezhao stated.

Key Trends in E-commerce Driving Rutter's Growth

The founders identify two significant trends shaping the e-commerce landscape: the increasing adoption of headless commerce, which separates the front-end and back-end functionalities of an e-commerce site, and the emergence of new companies dedicated to supporting merchants.

Future Plans and Growth Metrics

The newly acquired funding will be used to expand the Rutter team, with a focus on hiring additional engineers.

While Yu refrained from disclosing specific revenue figures due to the company’s recent launch earlier this year, he did reveal that Rutter’s API volume has been experiencing rapid growth, doubling and tripling in recent months.

Currently, the platform supports merchants connected to over 5,000 stores.

Expanding Beyond Shopify and Becoming a Unified App Store

Some of Rutter’s clients are focused on specific aspects of commerce, such as returns, warranties, and checkout processes. However, Yu emphasized that Shopify only accounts for approximately 10% of the overall e-commerce market.

Therefore, Rutter aims to empower merchants to extend their reach beyond individual marketplaces by functioning as a “unified app store” for merchants seeking various solutions.

“We envision the future e-commerce stack for merchants mirroring the SaaS stack commonly used by software companies,” Zhou added. “Our goal is to serve as the unifying element that integrates this stack for merchants.”