Belfast firm Selazar raises £20m to expand in US and Europe

Selazar said the expansion would make the firm into a "one-stop eCommerce fulfilment shop"

A Belfast e-commerce start-up has raised £20m from a global investor to expand its business in the US and Europe.

It is thought to be the biggest outside investment into a Northern Ireland start-up.

Selazar is a logistics provider, helping firms with online orders and deliveries.

The funding will see the firm open new warehouses in Ireland, the Netherlands, the US, Mexico and Colombia.

Jack Williams, Selazar chief executive, said the expansion would make the firm into a "one-stop e-commerce fulfilment shop for retailers wanting to set up business in the US, Europe, and beyond".

The company hopes the international scope, with the ability to transfer stock between international warehouses, has the potential to ease some of the post-Brexit difficulties some online sellers have faced.

The business was founded in Belfast in 2018 and has a team of about 30 people across its existing offices in London and Castle Donington.

The company has developed its own e-commerce fulfilment service and primarily services medium and larger retailers throughout the UK.

The new investor, who has not yet been named, will buy the shares of existing local shareholders who will see a five-fold return on their money.

'Very positive return'

Those shareholders include InvestNI, which held a stake through its Access to Finance programme.

William McCulla, director of corporate finance at Invest NI, said he was pleased that the agency had been able to support the company's growth.

"This has helped Selazar get to the stage where it can take advantage of such a significant investment and has provided Invest NI with a very positive return on our investment," he added.

This is the third major investment in a local technology firm in recent months.

In September, Belfast IT firm Cloudsmith raised $15m (£10.98m) from mainly US investors which it will use to add 60 employees to its workforce.

The investment was led by the high-profile New York fund Tiger Global.

In June, Marlin Equity Partners, a California-based fund, bought a majority stake in the Londonderry online learning firm Learning Pool.

That deal is understood to have valued the business at more than £150m.