H&M Group Makes Minority Investment in Centra

PlatformsRetail
Written By Rick Watson

H&M Group is a Swedish global design company, known for its fast fashion business model and a wide range of brands.

Centra is a global SaaS e-commerce platform specifically designed for fashion and lifestyle brands, enabling them to sell both directly to consumers and through wholesale channels.

Centra, a vertical-specific e-commerce platform, has announced that H&M Group has invested in a minority stake. The minority stake, less than 10 per cent, values Centra at just over half a billion Swedish kronor or just over $50M at current exchange rates. The new funding will be invested in growth and product development. In 2024, various H&M-owned brands transitioned to utilize Centra to leverage fashion-specific solutions. Is this confirmation bias or the road to a possible acquisition?

Centra: H&M Group invests in Centra

Rick Watson

Rick Watson founded RMW Commerce Consulting after spending 20+ years as a technology entrepreneur and operator exclusively in the eCommerce industry with companies like ChannelAdvisor, BarnesandNoble.com, Merchantry, and Pitney Bowes.

Watson’s work today is centered on supporting investors and management teams incubating and growing direct-to-consumer businesses. Most recently, in partnership with WHP Global, Rick was a critical resource in architecting the WHP+ platform, a new turnkey direct to consumer digital e-commerce platform that powers AnneKlein.com and JosephAbboud.com.

Watson also hosts a weekly podcast, Watson Weekly, where he shares an unbiased, unfiltered expert take on the retail sector’s biggest players.

In the past year alone, Rick has spoken at many in-person and virtual events as well as podcasts on topics ranging from retail/ecom to supply chain/logistics and even digital grocery including CommerceNext IRL, ASCM Connect, and Retail Innovation Conference.

https://www.rmwcommerce.com/
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