E-commerce startup Bigcommerce raises a whopping $50 million

E-commerce platform Bigcommerce announced today that it has raised $50 million in Series D funding, led by SoftBank Capital, with participation from Telstra Ventures, American Express, and returning investors General Catalyst and Revolution Growth. The capital will be used to develop the technology behind Bigcommerce’s cloud-based platform, further sales and marketing initiatives, and expand into new markets. Its latest round of funding brings Bigcommerce’s total raised so far to $125 million. The company is not disclosing its current valuation. As part of the investment, SoftBank Capital partner Steve Murray will join Bigcommerce’s board. SoftBank Capital is the investment arm of SoftBank Corp, the Japanese telecom giant that owns about a third of Alibaba Group, making it the Chinese e-commerce giant’s largest shareholder. This is not the first connection between Bigcommerce and Alibaba. Last month, Bigcommerce integrated Alibaba.com, the business-to-business trading marketplace, into its platform, which means its vendors can source products directly from Alibaba.com wholesalers through Bigcommerce’s site.