Selazar’s early investors exit following fresh £20m investment

3 Nov 2021

Chris Trotter, Clarendon Fund Managers, and Selazar CEO Jack Williams. Image: Selazar

The company will now grow an international e-commerce fulfilment network from Northern Ireland.

Belfast-based e-commerce business Selazar has secured what it claims to be the largest ever tech investment into a Northern Ireland company.

The £20m investment from a global investment group will support Selazar’s ambition to become an international e-commerce fulfilment company.

“Not only will it fund the opening of eight new warehouses, but it will also allow us to develop further our proprietary fulfilment technology and support customers trading in the UK, US, Europe and Latin America,” said Selazar CEO Jack Williams.

Williams added that the investment will help Selazar stand out from competing third-party logistics providers. “We will be a one-stop e-commerce fulfilment shop for retailers wanting to set up business in the US, Europe and beyond,” he said.

Founded in 2018, Selazar’s proprietary e-commerce fulfilment platform chiefly services medium to enterprise-size retailers in the UK. It now plans to open new warehouses in Ireland, the Netherlands, Mexico and Colombia, and four in the US.

Selazar clients will then be able to transfer stock between international warehouses, a measure that could mitigate against issues caused by Brexit as well as simplifying fulfilment and reducing costs.

This global fulfilment network will be operated from Selazar’s Belfast base.

The undisclosed investment group supporting this growth will acquire shares from Selazar’s existing investors.

Earlier investors in Selazar include Foresight Group and Co-Fund NI, along with local business angels. These investors are expected to see gains more than five times their original investment from this deal.

Co-Fund NI is backed by Invest NI and managed by Clarendon Fund Managers. Invest NI has also supported Selazar with a £93,000 R&D grant for the development of its e-commerce platform, and funding from its Covid-19 Equity Investment Fund.

William McCulla, director of corporate finance for Invest NI, said this prior support “helped Selazar get to the stage where it can take advantage of such a significant investment and has provided Invest NI with a very positive return on our investment”.

The company intends to quadruple its global team in the coming year to support its global growth. It will also expand its financial services offering for clients.

The £20m investment round for Selazar follows shortly after Belfast tech start-up Cloudsmith raised a landmark $15m Series A for a Northern Ireland start-up.

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Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com