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Our Investment in DJUST: Making B2B Commerce Easy For Everyone

by Philip Chopin, Luke Pappas, Tony Florence and Kemi OdusanJun 12, 2023

Today, the B2B e-commerce experience leaves a lot to be desired

Consumers can buy practically anything online – groceries, cosmetics, home services – you name it, and there is a brand, marketplace or D2C website catering to your needs. We’ve come to expect a frictionless and relevant online buying experience as private consumers. So why is it the case that most of B2B commerce remains opaque and intermediary-driven, with orders and payments occurring via phone, email, SMS, fax, and paper cheques?

Over the past two decades, we’ve seen a long list of companies investing in B2C e-commerce including Shopify, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, SAP Hybris, Magento/Adobe. It makes sense – B2C spend has always been top of mind and the pain points addressed by consumer e-commerce tools are widespread and easy to understand. However, B2B markets are actually several times bigger than B2C markets (annual global B2B spend is more than $100 trillion [1]) and only a fraction of that happens online (approximately 5-15% [2]). We believe this creates an incredibly compelling market opportunity to build out the software stack for B2B ecommerce.

Enter DJUST

Arnaud Rihiant identified the gap in the market while working at Mirakl – one of the leading software marketplace companies. Arnaud was a founding member of Mirakl, where he led implementation and customer success. Increasingly, he observed how the number of B2B customers grew significantly and how problematic it was for customers to implement a marketplace platform with their existing commerce platforms. B2B customers were struggling to connect to new channels and platforms as these were initially designed for the B2C industries or outdated legacy systems, often requiring long, costly and tedious implementation.

In 2020, Arnaud created DJUST, a powerful and modular commerce platform, exclusively built for B2B. There are a myriad of reasons behind our investment into DJUST but we’ve outlined the three main pillars driving our excitement.

1. The DJUST team is talented, experienced, and focused

When Arnaud left Mirakl in 2020, he gathered two other co-founders: Alexis Delplanque (Head of Sales), who was formerly an SDR & AE at Mirakl and was the first Snowflake sales hire in France; and Eric Gaudin (Head of Tech and Product), who has 15+ years of experience in software and digital commerce, and was the first Mirakl customer (MisterGoodDeal.com).

DJUST founding team: Alexis Delplanque, Arnaud Rihiant and Eric Gaudin

While we have been tracking the B2B category for a long time, we first had the opportunity to meet with the DJUST team in the winter of 2022, when we sat with Arnaud at a coffee shop in Paris. Arnaud and his team had just wrapped up a customer event at their office, and the excitement that Arnaud carried that day having spent the morning getting feedback from customers was palpable. So much so that within the first 10 minutes of our coffee, it was clear to us that there was something very interesting about the company and we wanted to learn more. There was just one problem, DJUST wasn’t planning on raising capital at the time. Having previously raised a seed round from Elaia, the company was well capitalized, and with Xavier Lazarus and Justine Guers advising the company, they were in great shape.

Fortunately for us, we were able to keep the conversion going through the winter break and into the new year. As DJUST’s customer velocity continued to increase, Arnaud and team began to warm up to the idea of raising more capital to unlock the opportunity to expand more quickly to new emerging markets and customer verticals. We could not be more grateful for this, because it opened the door for us, and we are thrilled to now announce NEA’s Series A investment in DJUST alongside Elaia and other existing investors.

2. We believe DJUST is addressing a large and ripe market opportunity to digitize commerce for the B2B customer

As mentioned above, the B2B commerce market is huge and despite being a majority offline market, the online market today is still massive. Statista estimated that the value of all goods and services transacted in B2B ecommerce in 2021 was roughly ~$18T, or approximately 5x that of B2C e-commerce [3].

We believe this market is ripe for a change. Companies engaging in B2B ecommerce want the experience that exists in B2C today, but existing tools fundamentally do not provide this experience. By building in this way, we feel strongly about DJUSTs ability to differentiate and win market share.

3. DJUST’s product vision is clear, with strong customer traction and usage to date

Screenshot of DJUST platform (Source: DJUST company website as of June 2023)

In the short amount of time since DJUST launched their B2B Commerce solution in 2021, they have been trusted by several leading companies such as large French retailers Franprix, Monoprix, and Naturalia. Large construction companies like Eiffage and Bouygues Construction have also been early adopters of new ways of doing B2B Commerce.

With a vision to free all businesses from the hassle of building and innovating a B2B Commerce, the DJUST product is made for B2B buyers and built for both growth and productivity. This translates into an easy-to-use interface where all commerce processes, existing systems and data are streamlined to increase productivity and efficiency for buyers and sellers. For large enterprises with heavy IT systems in place, DJUST provides a smarter way to progressively transform their B2B commerce without breaking existing systems – by connecting any back-end system to the DJUST platform to facilitate visibility and operational efficiency for an online storefront. The complete and integrated B2B Commerce platform has key features such as:

  • Easy catalog and pricing management

  • Quotation and bid management

  • Workflow validation tools for specific segments (B2B customers often need approvals from management and/or from finance before placing an order)

  • Complex inventory, pricing and channel management for B2B

  • Multiple payments and invoicing management

  • Easy page builders for full customization and sleek design

If this sounds interesting to you, check out DJUST’s Careers page for opportunities.


Notes and Sources:

  1. Statista, “B2C and B2B payment market size in the U.S. and worldwide 2018.” Published in May 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1251237/payments-market-size-usa-and-global/

  2. Digital Commerce 360, “B2B ecommerce sales surpass $1 trillion—with more growth to come.” Published in March 2019.https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2019/03/22/b2b-ecommerce-sales-surpass-1-trillion-with-more-growth-to-come/

  3. Statista, “B2B e-Commerce - In-depth Market Insights & Data Analysis.” Published in December 2022.https://www.statista.com/study/44442/in-depth-report-b2b-e-commerce/#:~:text=The%20global%20B2B%20eCommerce%20market,trends%2C%20and%20the%20competitive%20landscape

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The information provided in this blog post is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to be investment advice, or recommendation, or as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any fund or investment vehicle managed by NEA or any other NEA entity. New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is a registered investment adviser with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). However, nothing in this post should be interpreted to suggest that the SEC has endorsed or approved the contents of this post. NEA has no obligation to update, modify, or amend the contents of this post nor to notify readers in the event that any information, opinion, forecast or estimate changes or subsequently becomes inaccurate or outdated. In addition, certain information contained herein has been obtained from third-party sources and has not been independently verified by NEA. The companies featured in this post are for illustrative purposes only, have been selected in order to provide an example of the types of investments made by NEA that fit the theme of this post and are not representative of all NEA portfolio companies. The company founders or executives or any other individuals featured or quoted in this post are not compensated, directly or indirectly, by NEA but may be founders or executives of portfolio companies NEA has invested in through funds managed by NEA and its affiliates. Any statements made by founders, investors, portfolio companies, or others in the post or on other third-party websites referencing this post are their own, and are not intended to be an endorsement of the investment advisory services offered by NEA.

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About the Authors

Philip Chopin

Philip is Managing Director of NEA UK and is based in London, where he leads the firm’s European efforts. He has led investments in Sana Labs, DJUST and VAST Data. Prior to NEA, Philip was a Partner at 83North, where he led and was involved in numerous investments, including Paddle, Pelico, Exotec, Podimo, HungryPanda, and Wolt. Previously, Philip was Senior Director of International at SSENSE. Earlier in his career, Philip was a Project Leader at BCG. Philip holds an MBA from Kellogg and a MSc from Grenoble Ecole de Management.
Philip is Managing Director of NEA UK and is based in London, where he leads the firm’s European efforts. He has led investments in Sana Labs, DJUST and VAST Data. Prior to NEA, Philip was a Partner at 83North, where he led and was involved in numerous investments, including Paddle, Pelico, Exotec, Podimo, HungryPanda, and Wolt. Previously, Philip was Senior Director of International at SSENSE. Earlier in his career, Philip was a Project Leader at BCG. Philip holds an MBA from Kellogg and a MSc from Grenoble Ecole de Management.

Luke Pappas

Luke is currently a Partner on the Technology team focused on consumer and enterprise investing. He serves as a board observer at Aquabyte, Wiith, Modyfi, DJUST, Sana, Bliq, and PlayVS, and is closely involved in several other early-stage companies. Luke also works on Connect Ventures—NEA’s joint investing venture with CAA. Before joining NEA, Luke was a member of the Technology Investment Banking Team at Morgan Stanley. He graduated from Stanford University with dual BS degrees in computer science and management science & engineering, and also played four years of varsity baseball.
Luke is currently a Partner on the Technology team focused on consumer and enterprise investing. He serves as a board observer at Aquabyte, Wiith, Modyfi, DJUST, Sana, Bliq, and PlayVS, and is closely involved in several other early-stage companies. Luke also works on Connect Ventures—NEA’s joint investing venture with CAA. Before joining NEA, Luke was a member of the Technology Investment Banking Team at Morgan Stanley. He graduated from Stanford University with dual BS degrees in computer science and management science & engineering, and also played four years of varsity baseball.

Tony Florence

Tony joined NEA in 2008 and is currently Co-CEO of the firm. He previously served as Co-President and prior to that as Managing General Partner, Technology, where he led and oversaw NEA’s global technology investing practices across enterprise and consumer for both early and growth-stage investing. Tony’s investing practice focuses on software and internet companies, with an emphasis on growth-stage investments, and he’s helped many founders build and scale industry defining companies. Prior to joining NEA, Tony spent over a decade at Morgan Stanley, where he ran the tech investment banking group in New York and focused on the software and internet sectors, and was a member of the NA management committee. He earned his BA and MBA from Dartmouth College. Outside of NEA, Tony is involved with many organizations including being on the board of the Boston Children’s Hospital, chair of Dartmouth Athletics Advisory Board, the board of Northwell Health Feinstein Medical Research Institute, and the board of USA Lacrosse.
Tony joined NEA in 2008 and is currently Co-CEO of the firm. He previously served as Co-President and prior to that as Managing General Partner, Technology, where he led and oversaw NEA’s global technology investing practices across enterprise and consumer for both early and growth-stage investing. Tony’s investing practice focuses on software and internet companies, with an emphasis on growth-stage investments, and he’s helped many founders build and scale industry defining companies. Prior to joining NEA, Tony spent over a decade at Morgan Stanley, where he ran the tech investment banking group in New York and focused on the software and internet sectors, and was a member of the NA management committee. He earned his BA and MBA from Dartmouth College. Outside of NEA, Tony is involved with many organizations including being on the board of the Boston Children’s Hospital, chair of Dartmouth Athletics Advisory Board, the board of Northwell Health Feinstein Medical Research Institute, and the board of USA Lacrosse.

Kemi Odusan

Kemi is a Senior Associate at NEA’s offices in London, focused on technology investing across Europe. She joined NEA in 2023 after spending nearly two years as an Associate at General Atlantic, where she focused on the technology sector in EMEA. Previously, she was an Investment Banking Analyst in the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) group at Goldman Sachs, in London. Kemi graduated from the University of Bristol with a BSc in economics.
Kemi is a Senior Associate at NEA’s offices in London, focused on technology investing across Europe. She joined NEA in 2023 after spending nearly two years as an Associate at General Atlantic, where she focused on the technology sector in EMEA. Previously, she was an Investment Banking Analyst in the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) group at Goldman Sachs, in London. Kemi graduated from the University of Bristol with a BSc in economics.