Stockly raises another $12 million to sell out-of-stock items through other retailers

The French start-up Stockly raises a funding round of 12 million dollars (12 million euros) from Eurazeo, Daphni and several business angels. The company pools the inventory of several e-commerce sites. When a retailer is out of stock for a popular item, they can still accept the order and fulfill it through another retailer's inventory.

This startup is a network game. As Stockly grows, its product becomes more interesting as there are more partner retailers on the platform. Among Stockly's clients are Galeries Lafayette, Jonak, Go Sport and Decathlon.

If multiple vendors can fulfill an order, Stockly automatically selects a retailer based on multiple criteria, such as price, distance, and a quality score. Stockly also advises its partners to use neutral packaging so that everything remains transparent for the end customer.

The main technical challenge is that Stockly has to sync millions of items at any time. It integrates with existing e-commerce product feeds and should reflect Stockly's information in real time.

For example, Stockly cannot say that it can find a specific product at a specific price if there is a certain delay and no one actually has that product in their inventory anymore. But if it works as expected, it's an easy sell because it improves the user experience and everyone earns revenue along the way: the e-commerce retailer, the product provider, and Stockly.

With today's funding round, the company plans to grow to 50 employees and recruit additional retailers. Eurazeo and Daphni had already invested in Stockly last year, so they are both doubling their investment.