TORONTO, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Online retailer Cymax, a company
that sells furniture in the United States and Canada, has raised
$25 million in its first funding round and could look to go
public as early as next year, its top executive said on
Wednesday.
The financing was led by Frind Holdings, BDC Ventures and
Salman Partners. Frind Holdings is a venture of Markus Frind,
founder of dating website PlentyOfFish, which is being sold to
IAC/InterActive Corp's IACI.O Match Group.
Cymax plans to use the funds to expand its online retail
website, launch an e-commerce platform and roll out technology
that makes shipping easier and faster for retailers.
"We are a technology company first that happens to sell
furniture," Chief Executive Arash Fasihi said in an interview.
A number of factors have to fall in place and the market
conditions need to be positive to move ahead with plans for an
initial public offering, he said.
Sentiment has been robust for Canadian technology companies
this year, and capital raising announcements have come from
Shop.ca, Lightspeed, Kik Interactive, Shoes.com, Influitive,
Payfirma and Real Matters. A successful initial public offering
by Shopify SH.TO in both New York and Toronto further fueled
optimism for the sector.
Founded in 2004, Burnaby, British Columbia-based Cymax has
been recording annual sales growth of about 40 percent in the
past decade, Fasihi said. It expects to post revenue of C$180
million ($138.74 million) in 2015, up from C$124 million last
year. About 97 percent of its revenue comes from the United
States and the rest from Canada.
The company sells products from hundreds of brands,
including Stanley, Tommy Bahama and Coaster.
Its closest competitor is Wayfair Inc W.N , a Boston-based
e-commerce company with a market capitalization of about $3.3
billion. Major retailers such as Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O and
Best Buy Co Inc (N:BBY) BBY.N also sell furniture.
($1 = 1.2974 Canadian dollars)