The first venture-backed business-to-business marketplace for primary packaging, Impacked, announced this week that it successfully raised $2.5 million in seed funding through a round led by TenOneTen Ventures in hopes of recruiting more suppliers to join its American and European markets.
Some of this funding will also go toward improving the company’s existing sustainability scoring system. This is in addition to the $3.3 million the company has already raised from investors. To date, Impacked claims more than 2,000 buyers on its platform and includes suppliers such as Amcor, Bericap, Resilux USA, and Verity on its rolls.
The packaging industry represents approximately $1 trillion, and Impacked seeks to shift that industry toward more sustainable means of business and bring it into the modern age. At the heart of the issue, the company noted, is that the packaging market remains largely undigitized, meaning its sourcing remains mostly through phone calls, emails, and forms. However, the industry still depends on in-person trade shows and word of mouth to survive and generate new business.
Current practices are inefficient, in Impacked’s view, and cause both overpay and delays. Instead, the company seeks to sell customers on a fully online tradeshow available year-long, with tools for suppliers to streamline their sales and marketing, and allow brands to search, filter, sample, quote, and buy packaging from a single place. It also navigates sustainability regulations by listing scores for various products listed in its marketplace, standardized on environmental sustainability criteria.
“As a former global brand manager at Unilever leading product innovations, sourcing primary packaging was one of the biggest bottlenecks in my product launch process,” Lisa-Marie Assenza, co-founder and CEO of Impacked, said. “While 73 percent of those who influence B2B purchasing decisions are digital-native millennials like myself, packaging is one of the few remaining industries that still operates largely offline. Impacked is built for the modern buyer, by the modern buyer — it’s the online marketplace I wish existed years ago. With timelines for product innovation accelerating, COVID-19 driving a shift to digital channels, and consumers, governments, and retailers recognizing the role packaging plays in the health of our planet, our industry needs a better way to connect and collaborate — now more than ever.”