NewStore raises $50 million for mobile commerce

Demandware founder Stephen Schambach has moved on to his next startup and investors are betting $50 million.

NewStore, an enterprise platform for mobile commerce, has raised a Series B from Activant Capital, General Catalyst and Schambach's own money. The company previously raised $40 million since 2015, but just launched the business late last year.

While Magento, Shopify and others provide businesses with e-commerce solutions, NewStore is differentiating itself by being mobile-focused. It has already secured big clients including Adidas.

The goal is to "develop a platform that provides an end-to-end solution for retailers that’s mobile first," said Schambach. "We believe that e-commerce will be a smartphone-only player and we’re building for that," he said, predicting the death of desktop shopping will happen within the next few years. 

NewStore is specifically targeting businesses in the apparel, lifestyle and luxury categories because he believes these are the main spaces that can compete with Amazon. It helps brands build apps and mobile shopping experiences that result in more sales.

Whether it's a faster checkout experience or a way to convert mobile customers to in-store, the startup is confident that it will drive revenue and the way it makes money is by taking a cut of it. Schambach says their monetization strategy will be similar to what he built at Demandware. It worked well enough for Salesforce to buy the company for $2.8 billion last year. 

"Most of the people who have done something in the mobile world have been add-on products," said Larry Bohn, managing director at General Catalyst. NewStore is "really an entire software system that provides value for stores and commerce sites." 

NewStore plans to use the funding to grow its client base. It's starting in the U.S., but eventually wants to expand their service to Europe and the U.K.

NewStore has 140 employees and plans to hire more. The company is headquartered in Boston.