Permira, the global private equity firm which backs tech-enabled businesses, has made a strategic investment in CommentSold, a digital commerce service provider that seeks to enable small and medium-sized retail businesses to utilize live and social selling. Previous investor ZMC will exit its position as part of this transaction.
CommentSold is a cloud-based software company that enables live and social selling across multiple shopping platforms and channels, including social media networks, merchants’ own websites and their CommentSold-powered branded mobile apps.
“Partnering with Permira is the perfect way to kick off our next phase of growth and stay on the leading edge of live selling by ensuring our platform provides everything our customers need to engage shoppers and grow their businesses,” said Brandon Kruse, CEO of CommentSold. “We’re very proud of what we’ve built so far and we’re confident that the Permira team’s knowledge and expertise in scaling consumer tech businesses will help us unlock our full potential and seize the huge market opportunity in front of us. This investment is a major validation of live selling, our platform and our team, and we’re very excited for what’s ahead.”
David Erlong, principal at Permira, said, “CommentSold is a disruptive platform enabling livestream e-commerce and powering massive growth of small businesses in the US. Brandon and his team are redefining how live sellers interact and create lasting relationships with their audiences, which is a critical component for live sellers aspiring to supercharge their growth. We admire what the team has achieved already with ZMC’s support and look forward to backing CommentSold as it helps a growing number of live sellers realize their goals.”
Andrew Vogel, co-chief investment officer and managing partner at ZMC, added, “We thank CommentSold’s outstanding management team and employees for their partnership during a period characterized by dynamic growth and innovation. We remain excited about the company’s future prospects with Permira’s support.”
Evercore is acting as exclusive financial advisor to CommentSold. Lowenstein Sandler LLP acted as legal advisor to CommentSold. Fried Frank acted as legal advisor to Permira.