Online plastics, chemicals and ingredients platform Knowde has raised $72 million in Series B financing, led by investment firm Coatue Management LLC.
Existing investors Sequoia Capital, Refactor Capital, Bee Partners and Cantos Ventures also backed the company in the new round. Other new investors include TQ Ventures, K5 Global, Mantis VC and Sound Ventures — a venture capital firm founded by actor Ashton Kutcher and talent manager Guy Oseary.
"Digital marketplaces have the power to transform industries," Kris Fredrickson, managing partner at New York-based Coatue, said in an Aug. 5 news release. "We're excited to partner with Knowde because we believe in the company's vision to reshape the way marketing and sales are done in one of the largest industries in the world."
Coatue is a major technology investment platform with more than $40 billion in assets under management. Its investments have included DoorDash, Instacart and Spotify.
Officials with Knowde in San Jose, Calif., said in the release that, with this round, the firm will invest in product development for new buyer and supplier features, further enhancements to its e-commerce capabilities and international expansion opportunities.
"This is one of the few remaining industries that has not been touched by software," Knowde CEO and co-founder Ali Amin-Javaheri said. "Marketplaces have instantly modernized major industries. Knowde is bringing this same experience to the largest market in the world."
Knowde officially launched its plastics, elastomers and polymer additives platform in May. Officials said the online platform allows plastics and elastomers specifiers, converters, compounders and buyers to search, filter, collaborate, request samples and quotes, and purchase from hundreds of producers all in one place.
Plastics suppliers working with Knowde include Braskem America, DuPont Co., Solvay SA and DSM NV. The platform launched in 2016 and now features storefronts for more than 2,000 suppliers.
Earlier this year, Knowde was averaging almost 300,000 searches, 6,000 sample requests and 1,200 price quotes each month. The firm had raised $14 million in Series A financing in early 2020.