Hubba Announces Series B Growth Funding Round Led by Goldman Sachs Investment Partners

TORONTO and NEW YORK (PRWEB) December 06, 2016

Hubba, the leading business network for retailers to discover and connect with the world's most interesting brands, secured a significant minority investment from Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, along with additional participation from existing investors Real Ventures, Kensington Venture Fund and Brightspark Ventures.

With a network of over 40,000 companies, Hubba facilitates thousands of commercial connections daily and has rapidly become the prevalent online destination for brands to showcase their products to retail buyers, and for retail buyers to discover new brands. The growing demand from consumers for products that are unique, local or from independent brands means retail buyers face new challenges in this shifting landscape for commerce. For retail buyers, Hubba's network enables the discovery and management of the increasing number of niche products and brand relationships. Additionally, Hubba's network features a large set of highly engaged influencers who partner with brands and retailers to promote their products to their follower base.

"We have seen remarkable growth of our network in 2016," says Ben Zifkin, founder and CEO of Hubba. "This is a huge testament to Hubba's community of quality brands and the value they capture from being on our network." Hubba will use the proceeds of the Series B funding round to provide even greater value for its community members. This will include developing new products and features to help drive new business for Hubba users as well as expanding the company's geographic footprint to other international regions.

While Hubba also works with large enterprises like Unilever and Anheuser Busch InBev, as the shift to independent brands continues to grow among consumers, Hubba has become a champion and advocate for unique and craft brands in enabling discoverability. "We are entering a new era for brands. It is easier, cheaper and faster to launch incredible products today," says Zifkin. "We are very focused on helping these amazing companies grow their businesses to a whole new level." With companies across eight categories, including Food & Beverage, Pets, Personal Care & Beauty and Sports & Recreation, Hubba's members can efficiently manage and share product information with their trading partners to help increase visibility and drive sales.

"We are seeing seismic shifts in the world of commerce. In retailers' efforts to remain relevant to the consumer, who today faces increasing choice and access, the empowerment of the long-tail of craft brands has driven a re-focus in retail assortment toward such products. We believe that Hubba is positioned to be a dominant player in this new world," says Ian Friedman, Co-head of the Venture Capital and Growth Equity team at Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, the same group that invested in Uber, Facebook, Pinterest and Spotify. "What got us most excited was the strength of the Hubba team. We believe Hubba's centrality in facilitating this discovery process positions them well to become the leading trusted platform enabling interactions between brands, retailers and influencers."

The Series B round follows an $11M Series A round closed in 2015.

About Hubba
Hubba is the leading business network designed to help brands and retailers connect on opportunities to grow their business. The platform provides powerful tools for retailers to discover new products from some of the world's most innovative and creative brands, and opens new avenues for product creators to expand their reach and build partnerships with retailers across the globe and over multiple categories.

About Goldman Sachs Investment Partners
The Goldman Sachs Investment Partners (GSIP) Venture Capital and Growth Equity team has invested more than $6 billion in private opportunities globally. The team partners with entrepreneurs to build disruptive businesses and, since 2003, has invested in over 100 private transactions, including Facebook, Uber, Pinterest, Spotify, SMS Assist, Compass, foodpanda, Cadre, GoEuro and thredUP. The GSIP Venture Capital and Growth Equity team is located in New York, Hong Kong and Mumbai.

Media inquiries contact:
Wendy Bairos, Media Relations at Hubba
416-831-9820
wbairos(at)hubba(dot)com

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/12/prweb13903480.htm

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