FERMAT

The ecommerce space is changing rapidly. Brands are increasingly trying to capture the attention of consumers in an ever-more-crowded digital landscape, where the expectation for personalized, contextual shopping experiences is a requirement for egregious spend. Template-based ecommerce sites, which are static, are not offering the dynamic interactions that consumers are now used to engaging with.

This brings us to FERMÀT, a startup based out of San Francisco, founded in November 2021 by Rishabh Jain and Shreyas Kumar. FERMÀT is the driver of "AI-native commerce," allowing brands to build unique dynamic, content-native storefronts that adapt user behavior in real-time, regardless of traffic sources such as a TikTok ad, an influencer's story or a marketing email. Their platform includes the AI-based ecommerce concierge, Pierre, who helps brands create and optimize customer funnels with speed and accuracy. While building funnels, Pierre captures real-time purchase data, allowing brands to test multiple high-converting landing pages & product recommendations without coding. This simplicity with no-code and drag-and-drop has become essential for fast-growing DTC brands looking to maximize return from advertising spend. FERMÀT's strength is in performance marketing. It has successfully consolidated customer acquisition and abovementioned site optimization into one integrated and agile system. There is no delay for an online marketing team to create and publish personalized product detail pages, landing pages for influencers or themed collections that reflect user intent. All of this creates lower bounce rates and more conversions. Full-funnel measurement and analytics built in a single click to assess the status of user behavior from the first click to completing checkout, can inform brands to optimize quickly and efficiently.

FERMÀT also has demonstrated financial growth and success. For example, in 2023, it generated $2.1 million in revenue with 25 employees. By 2024, it is estimated that revenue grew to $5.4 million and the number of employees grew to 44, which means that the firm had formally had an expansion of 100 percent in the work force the previous year. While the company is not reporting profit figures, with the rapid revenue growth and personnel scaling it can be assumed they are adding a healthy margin profile and on the path to profitability. In March 2024, FERMÀT raised $17 million in a Series A funding round, with Bain Capital Ventures leading the round, and additional participation from Greylock, QED Investors, and Courtside Ventures. The total raised for the firm is now more than $30 million, and the company's estimated valuation is now between $68 million and $102 million, which reflects high investor confidence in the scalability and market opportunity of its product. The company is using the capital to build out its machine learning capabilities while supporting its global mission.

FERMÀT's growth is not just tied to funding. Initially, the company focused on the U.S. market, but it is now doing business throughout North America and starting to expand into Europe through some of its global brand clients. Its client list includes fast-growing ecommerce brands like True Classic, Jack Archer, U Beauty, mindbodygreen, and Nood—many of which do business internationally. The firm is headquartered in San Francisco, but takes a hybrid remote-first approach and has employees across engineering, product and marketing that are for its global mission.

FERMÀT has a flexible subscription plan that is designed according to the size, needs, and traffic of each brand it services. The majority of its revenue is generated through recurring monthly fees, which may vary based on what a brand chooses, or the features offered (advanced analytics, onboarding assistance, or their maximum usage variation). Recurring revenue is a great relationship for the firm, as they know what to expect every month; brands also know what to expect in terms of costs, and the scale of their activity makes sense financially to them. The company also aligns itself in relation to revenue to customer success. FERMÀT's structure fosters long-term brands and the opportunity for continuous growth and repeat business, resulting in increasing year over year revenues.

In a very fragmented and competitive shopping experience, FERMÀT gives customers something unique in its emphasis on the pre-cart experience and contextualized commerce. There are other players in the ecosystem like Shopify and BigCommerce that create most of the backend ecommerce infrastructure; however, their position is front of commerce, and curating the journey from clicking an ad to discovering the product genuinely is its expertise. FERMÀT's competitors include Replo, Shogun, Klickly, Pattern, and Canal, each addressing niche personalization or landing pages but strictly point solutions. None of their competitors comprehensively combine AI-native funnel creation, analytics, and design flexibility; in addition, integrated data on ad performance, shopping intent, and conversion design is particularly appealing to brands who focus away from search engines and are focused on social fighting discovery and direct response.

Moving forward, FERMÀT is taking stock of the next chapter of product innovation. The team is currently exploring integrations with generative AI and augmented reality to enhance the customer experience even more. For example, the next iterations could involve AI-generated product showcases, virtual try-ons, or personalized experiences driven by behavioral data. All these upgrades are designed to further shorten the gap between discovery and purchase and create urgency; FERMÀT could become an indispensable component for a commerce/retail brand in ecommerce. As co-founder Rishabh Jain succinctly put it, "The future of ecommerce is not in channels, it’s in moments. We’re building for the moment when the user has decided to buy, wherever they are." With a technology-first approach, incredibly fast growth in its customer base, and very clear differentiation in the marketplace, the firm is planning the future of commercial engagement with technology. As FERMÀT continues to reach new heights in ecommerce, its intelligent solutions for storefront infrastructure, the accessible tools for content creation and campaigns can elevate more brands in retail—they're quietly becoming an ecommerce powerhouse and a company to look out for.

Click here to access FERMAT's website.