Packmatic secures €15M funding to accelerate Europe’s “opaque and outdated industry”
25 Jan 2024 --- Packmatic, the Berlin-based digital packaging marketplace, has raised €15 million (US$16.3 million) in a Series A funding round led by EQT Ventures, with participation from existing investors HV Capital and xDeck, along with other angel investors, including the founders of online retail giant Zalando.
Packmatic’s platform serves as a one-stop shop for product companies looking to optimize their packaging processes. The funding injection will fuel the company’s expansion across Europe, enabling additional investment in software and the acquisition of industry talent to propel Packmatic into its next growth stage.
Rania Belkahia, partner at EQT Ventures, tells Packaging Insights: “Packmatic’s mission aligns seamlessly with our strategic objectives. EQT Ventures looks to invest in generation-defining companies at the forefront of sustainability, AI and digitalization — Packmatic’s pioneering SaaS application is an example of an innovative tech solution revolutionizing an opaque and outdated industry while also championing the global sustainability agenda.”
“Packmatic’s digital platform supports SMEs’ environmental goals by improving their access to lower carbon and plastic packaging alternatives (a segment of the market smaller businesses often find themselves shut out of).”
Eliminates inefficiencies
Packmatic’s platform connects businesses to a network of over 300 curated packaging suppliers across Europe. This approach is said to eliminate the inefficiencies of the current sourcing process, offering customers price transparency, cost savings and access to sustainable packaging alternatives.
Digital packaging platform Packmatic aims to scale its SaaS-enabled B2B marketplace across Europe.
Matthias Geiss, co-founder and managing director at Packmatic, emphasizes the platform’s role in addressing the long-standing challenges of the packaging market: “The packaging market has long been overlooked and underserved — packaging is integral to supply chains and yet the sourcing process is slow and disjointed, which is especially painful for SMEs.”
“Packmatic’s data-driven platform delivers meaningful cost savings and efficiencies to customers while helping them to meet their environmental goals. With demand for responsible packaging solutions rising rapidly as businesses race to decarbonize across every stage of the value chain, Packmatic is promoting industry change with a cost-effective, efficient solution that helps companies reduce their plastic and carbon footprint.”
On average, Packmatic delivers over 15% cost savings to its customers, making it a “game-changer” for businesses seeking optimized and sustainable packaging solutions.
Harnessing a fragmented market
As the demand for responsible packaging solutions continues to rise, Packmatic aims to lead industry change with its cost-effective, efficient and environmentally conscious approach.
Belkahia says, “the packaging market is valued at €1 trillion (~US$1.09 trillion) globally, but it’s highly fragmented on the supply side and hard to navigate for customers because of how analog it is.”
“Packmatic has built a fully digital packaging one-stop shop that seamlessly connects customers to a network of more than 300 packaging suppliers across Europe, and it allows businesses to make more informed and sustainable decisions when sourcing their packaging solutions — all while reducing costs.”
Furthermore, she says, “with pricing pressures rising on companies in every industry and sustainability at the top of the global agenda, the company’s tech platform is perfectly poised to disrupt the market and become a category leader.”
By Radhika Sikaria
