Astound Expands Funding

Global digital commerce expert Astound Commerce, with engineering centers and a team of 850-plus IT specialists in five Ukrainian cities has announced strategic investments from the California-based firm RLH Equity Partners, with additional participation from Salesforce’s corporate investment group, Salesforce Ventures. This funding is aimed at accelerating the expansion of Astound’s capabilities and footprint into new commercial and technology markets, as well as fueling the company’s growth and the attraction of top-notch engineering talent in key business locations.

Since its founding in 2000, Astound Commerce has achieved rapid organic development, and today with a team of 1,300 professionals worldwide the company is delivering exceptional digital commerce experiences for global brands such as Puma, L’Oréal, Under Armour, FLOR, TOMS, and Crocs. The RLH investment comes on the heels of exponential growth for Astound, and the company will use these funds to achieve its strategic plan, launched in the beginning of 2020 with the aim of making Astound the global market leader in digital commerce.

“As we came to recognize RLH’s people-focused philosophy and its deep commitment to preserving the culture and operations of the businesses it supports, prioritizing talent acquisition and retention, the choice was clear,” — said Michael Kahn, Global CEO at Astound Commerce. “For the past three decades, RLH has invested in technology business services, healthcare, and government services, in particular seeking out superlative leadership teams with a clear plan for exponential growth,” — he continued.

“We welcome RLH Equity Partners as a strategic investor in Astound Commerce, and are delighted with Salesforce Ventures’ continued support. I believe this partnership will strengthen Astound’s position as the world-class digital commerce expert and boost our development in existing and new markets. With these funds we expect to add new technologies to our portfolio and hire more talents to our team,” — noted Ilya Vinogradsky, co-founder and COO/CIO at Astound Commerce.

“This investment is a key indicator of trust in our business and an important signal for our team and the market in general. RLH funding will enable Astound Commerce to scale new heights and create the jobs of the future in all countries of our presence. We believe this agreement helps our trajectory to become a global market leader in digital commerce and enhance our positions as an attractive employer,” — added Darja Gornitska, Director of Global Delivery Operations at Astound Commerce.

RLH Equity Partners has a long history of helping promising businesses capitalize on their potential, offering seasoned guidance as its team focuses on strengthening existing infrastructure and supporting new initiatives. Other RLH investments include Salesforce cloud consultancy Bluewolf (since acquired by IBM), Salesforce B2B agency Shift 7 Digital, financial and technology consultancy CrossCountry Consulting, and pharmaceutical industry consulting firm Clearview Healthcare Partners.

Before this major investment from RLH Equity Partners, in 2019 Astound Commerce received funds from Salesforce Ventures to expand the company’s presence in priority markets and increase the share of its projects in the overall Salesforce ecosystem. Since that time Astound Commerce introduced new engineering centers in Turkey and India, and its team of tech experts increased by a third.