ChannelAdvisor, a provider of ecommerce channel management solutions for eBay and online sellers, announced Tuesday it secured $30 million in additional funding, led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA). ChannelAdvisor will leverage the additional capital to continue its growth into ecommerce channels such as paid search and comparison shopping engines as well as expand its offerings into new geographies and investigate acquisition opportunities. In addition, ChannelAdvisor announced that Bill Brown has joined the company as Chief Financial Officer to manage all of the company's financial activities.

ChannelAdvisor Corporation is headquartered in Research Triangle Park, NC with offices in Seattle, the United Kingdom and Germany. The company said it managed over $1.6 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) on behalf of its customers in 2006.

ChannelAdvisor CEO Scot Wingo said a good portion of the funding will drive organic growth - "the same stuff we do today." When asked if possible acquisition targets could include comparison-shopping sites, Wingo said they will stick with ecommerce services and not become a marketplace. What about email marketing? That is definitely interesting to them, Wingo said, though that could be achieved through a partnership.

Other than the opening of an office in Australia, nothing is planned, as they have been concentrating on raising money. But, "Asia's really interesting to us - China, Japan, Singapore, Korea."

Every year there is a bigger opportunity in ecommerce channels, Wingo said, citing the need to go fast and calling the funding "jet fuel" for his company.

The funding round was led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) with participation from current ChannelAdvisor investors Kodiak Venture Partners, Advanced Technology Ventures, Southern Capitol Ventures and eBay. NEA is a venture capital firm founded in 1978, the firm with $8.5 billion in committed capital, and offices in Reston, Virginia, Menlo Park, California and Baltimore, Maryland. New Enterprise Associates (India) Pvt. Ltd. has an office in Bangalore, India, and New Enterprise Associates (Beijing) Ltd. has offices in Beijing and Shanghai China. As a result of the investment, NEA General Partner Patrick Kerins will join the ChannelAdvisor board of directors.

ChannelAdvisor's new CFO Bill Brown is a 25-year financial and accounting veteran who has served as Chief Financial Officer at several Massachusetts-based Software-as-a-service (SaaS) on-demand companies, including Lightbridge, a Burlington, MA company Bill helped take public in 1996. Bill received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from the School of Management at Boston University.

http://www.channeladvisor.com