Qapla' closes a 5 million € Series A round (2024)

We are thrilled and proud to announce a new significant step in our growth: the closing of a €5 million Series A round. This achievement has been made possible thanks to the trust of investors and customers over these years, and it propels us towards new milestones and platform developments. Qapla’ mission remains unchanged and will have even more strength: to simplify and empower the management of shipments for an increasing number of eCommerce businesses and to create a top-level Delivery Experience for every eShopper.

• The €5 million Series A round: details and objectives
• The evolution and mission of Qapla’
• By our side for Qapla’s growth: the investors

The €5 million Series A funding round was led by BlackSheep, the first European vertical venture capital fund specialized in Madtech segment investments. Also participating in the round were CDP Venture Capital SGR through the Fondo Acceleratori, the Venture Capital Fund managed by SIMEST on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and the regional co-investment fund Toscana Next, established and managed by CDP Venture Capital SGR and subscribed to by the major banking foundations in the Tuscany Region (Fondazione CR Firenze, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca, Fondazione Caript, Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena) to maximize investments in innovation for the territory.

The operation was coordinated by Giuseppe Arturo as a financial advisor, while the legal aspects were handled by the Chiomenti law firm in Milan, represented by Attorney Lucia Occhiuto and Attorney Davide Di Maio.

With the new resources, the company intends to continue the internationalization process started three years ago, expanding further into the European market. The goal is to enter new markets such as Germany and the United Kingdom and strengthen its position in the Spanish market, where Qapla’ has been active since 2020. The international development plan had already begun with an initial funding round of €950,000 obtained in November 2020.

To date, Qapla’, with over 40 employees located between its Italian headquarters and the operational hub in the Spanish market, has reached a monthly volume of 2 million managed shipments.

Umberto Bottesini, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of BlackSheep, stated: “Qapla’ is an example of how our country can produce technology, especially innovative software solutions capable of finding international adoption in highly competitive markets like eCommerce and digital marketing. Our fund, with its extensive experience in the industry, specifically aims to support Italian and European innovation. The BlackSheep team is able to identify deserving companies like Qapla’ and support them with an industrial strategy aimed at further developing the product for export and making it competitive in global markets.”

“We have been alongside Qapla’ from the beginning of their journey and strongly believe in their innovative all-in-one proposal for optimizing eCommerce processes and in their growth plan in the Italian and international market, in line with the mission of the Fondo Acceleratori to invest in the early stages to continue supporting the best scaleups in the later stages” commented Stefano Molino, Senior Partner and Head of the Fondo Acceleratori at CDP Venture Capital SGR. “Today, we are particularly proud to have brought the resources of the Toscana Next fund into this round, established thanks to the major regional banking foundations to maximize the impact of investments in the territory, and the Venture Capital Fund managed by SIMEST aimed at supporting the internationalization projects of the best entrepreneurial entities, confirming that by networking, we can truly influence the future of national innovation champions.”