Flow Commerce

Flow Commerce Inc., which operated as Flow, was a cross-border e-commerce software company headquartered in Hoboken, New Jersey, with a globally distributed workforce. Its platform allowed brands and retailers to sell to international shoppers by handling the operational elements of cross-border transactions: displaying prices in local currency, calculating and displaying duties and taxes by product and destination, providing shipping options, and supporting local payment methods. According to the company's CEO, the platform was positioned as a turnkey solution on the premise that merchants needed all of these components together — partial coverage produced less lift in international conversion than addressing currency, payments, duties/taxes and shipping simultaneously.

At the time of its acquisition, Flow's technology was described as API-based and used by merchants to drive cross-border sales in over 200 countries, with modular adoption of localization, experience optimization, currency exchange and payments, and shipping and tax/duty compliance services. Flow was expected to generate approximately $20 million in net revenues in calendar year 2021.

Global-e Online Ltd (NASDAQ: GLBE) closed its acquisition of Flow on January 4, 2022, in a transaction valued at up to approximately $500 million, split in equal portions of cash and Global-e shares. Global-e stated the acquisition would strengthen its offering for emerging and small brands and allow it to broaden the scope of its exclusive relationship with Shopify. Flow's founders moved into Global-e leadership roles: Rob Keve to head a newly formed SMB division and Mike Bryzek as Chief Product Officer.

Founding story

Flow was co-founded in 2015 by Rob Keve and Mike Bryzek. One profile describes the company as an outgrowth of the founders' prior roles: Keve founded customer-experience company Fizzback (acquired by NICE), and Bryzek co-founded e-commerce company Gilt (acquired by HBC). Their stated shared aim was to build a next-generation solution for cross-border e-commerce.

Business model

Flow sold a turnkey, API-based cross-border commerce platform to online merchants. Merchants integrated Flow into their existing e-commerce storefronts and could adopt individual modules — localization, experience optimization, currency conversion and payments, or Flow's global infrastructure for shipping and tax and duty compliance — rather than a single all-or-nothing package. The offering emphasized lightweight integration and self-service capabilities, which the acquirer cited as making it suitable for small and emerging brands.

Sources do not detail Flow's pricing structure. The company was reported to be expected to generate approximately $20 million in net revenues in calendar year 2021 from its merchant-facing cross-border commerce software and services.

Traction

The company reported customers of varying sizes across broad retail categories. At acquisition it supported cross-border sales into more than 200 countries and was expected to generate approximately $20 million in net revenues for calendar year 2021. A startup directory listed headcount in the 51-200 range and roughly 102,000 monthly website visits as of mid-2021.

Latest developments

On January 4, 2022, Global-e Online Ltd announced the closing of its acquisition of Flow Commerce Inc., in a deal valued at up to approximately $500 million (approximately $425 million base consideration, up to approximately $75 million in earn-out tied to 2021 financial results, and approximately $45 million in Global-e shares for assumed performance-based vesting warrants). Global-e concurrently issued Shopify a warrant for approximately $70 million in Global-e shares as part of an expanded strategic partnership. Flow's CEO Rob Keve became head of Global-e's newly formed SMB division and CTO Mike Bryzek became Global-e's Chief Product Officer.