<p><img src="https://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5feb8acdb7ab82001943e78d-2222/retail cyber online shopping gift card holiday black friday sale credit card cox-1.jpg" border="0" alt="retail cyber online shopping gift card holiday black friday sale credit card" data-mce-source="Crystal Cox/Business Insider"></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>2021 looks to be a good year for e-commerce after 2020 saw the sector blow past investor expectations. </p><p>According to e-commerce platform <a href="https://www.shopify.com/enterprise/the-future-of-ecommerce/omnichannel">Shopify</a>, retail e-commerce enjoyed 10 years' worth of growth in 90 days due to the VOCID019 pandemic. With consumers more reliant than ever on online shopping, the coronavirus pandemic sparked soaring <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/online-holiday-sales-to-reach-record-shattering-189-billion-adobe-2020-10" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="20" data-uri="81df8cea3da4a9bebdfe807d71163b6e">online sales</a>. Plenty of major e-commerce companies may even go public in the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/e-commerce-ipo-go-public-in-2021-2020-12">coming months</a>.</p><p>But which e-commerce outfits are truly on the verge of booming in 2021' Business Insider analyzed the numbers from private capital data firm <a href="https://get.pitchbook.com/pitchbook-data/'utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Brand-US&adgroup=Brand-Exact&utm_term=pitchbook&matchtype=e&creative=436350858717&device=c&utm_content=SL-Brand-Exact&_bk=pitchbook&_bt=436350858717&_bm=e&_bn=g&_bg=68167525578&kwdaud=kwd-334479000139&sfid=-dc_pcrid_436350858717_pkw_pitchbook_pmt_e_slid__productid__pgrid_68167525578_ptaid_kwd-334479000139&gclid=CjwKCAiAxKv_BRBdEiwAyd40NywWSaU976biZW8iJxPaDOGcwRqMQfMfxiU44pIDEV_cdYQ4HoZD8RoCx64QAvD_BwE">PitchBook Data</a> and spoke to experts in the industry to find out which companies could see the most opportunity come their way in the coming months.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/e-commerce-ipo-go-public-in-2021-2020-12" >Online retailer Wish just landed a $17 billion valuation in its IPO. Here are 21 other ecommerce companies experts say could go public in 2021.</a></strong></p><h3>Instacart</h3><img src="https://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5feb5288edf892001809404c-400-300/instacart.jpg" alt="" /><p><p><strong>Investors</strong>: D1 Capital Partners, T. Rowe Price, PV Seed Fund, General Catalyst, Regah Ventures, DST Global, The Spaventa Group, and Valiant Capital Partners</p><p><strong>Latest funding</strong>: Series G and Series H</p><p><strong>Funding size</strong>: $550 million in 2020</p><p><strong>Headquarters</strong>: San Francisco</p><p><strong>What it does</strong>: Instacart is a food and essential goods delivery company.</p><p><strong>Why it will boom in 2021</strong>: Instacart is a dominant force in the grocery delivery space, which means that it's positioned to thrive in the coming months.</p><p>According to FJ Labs Founding Partner Fabrice Grinda, 2020 has brought about a major shift in consumer behavior. Shoppers are increasingly purchasing food and groceries online to contend with the pandemic. And because it's more affordable and convenient than ever, that's unlikely to stop even as the impact of COVID-19 wanes.</p><p>"E-commerce and food will continue to do extremely well in 2021," Grinda said. "So Doordash, Uber Eats, Seamless, Grubhub, and Instacart — the large scale food or grocery delivery — are all going to do really, really well."</p></p><br/><br/><h3>Coupang</h3><img src="https://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5feb89a7a644880018193b2c-400-300/coupang.jpg" alt="" /><p><p><strong>Investors</strong>: SoftBank and Sequioa Capital </p><p><strong>Latest funding</strong>: Investment from Softbank's Vision Fund</p><p><strong>Funding size</strong>: $2 billion in 2018</p><p><strong>Headquarters</strong>: Seoul </p><p><strong>What it does</strong>: Coupang is South Korea's powerhouse answer to Amazon.</p><p><strong>Why it will boom in 2021</strong>: According to Grinda, South Korean giant Coupang is currently "crushing" in the e-commerce space. E-commerce demand in South Korea <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/south-korean-e-commerce-firm-coupang-stretched-by-order-surge-as-coronavirus-cases-jump-2020-3">spiked</a> during the pandemic. Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-coupang-results/south-koreas-coupang-operating-loss-shrinks-by-a-third-in-2019-as-e-commerce-surges-idUSKCN21W0MY">reported</a> that the company saw soaring sales as a result.</p><p>"They can grow to $20 billion in sales annually," Grinda said. "This company is a monster. They're private, but they're going to be, I think, a $50 billion company."</p></p><br/><br/><h3>OfferUp</h3><img src="https://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5fcfcbe8240ebd00126bdbd9-400-300/offerup.jpg" alt="" /><p><p><strong>Investors</strong>: GGV Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, OLX, and Warburg Pincus</p><p><strong>Latest funding</strong>: Series F and later stage VC funding </p><p><strong>Funding size</strong>: $573.4 million in 2020</p><p><strong>Headquarters</strong>: Bellevue, Washington</p><p><strong>What it does</strong>: OfferUp is an online shopping platform that facilitates local sales.</p><p><strong>Why it will boom in 2021</strong>: E-commerce platforms are having a moment that will likely last well into 2021. And according to Social Starts Venture Partner Charles Smith, OfferUp is set to become the Craigslist of commerce.</p><p>"The question I am so excited by is: How do you connect communities that are out there that want transactions to happen, that haven't had a way to communicate before'" he said.</p><p>Smith said that for consumers looking to get off Facebook and Amazon, OfferUp is set to present a tempting and localized alternative. </p></p><br/><br/><h3>Slice</h3><img src="https://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5feb9312a644880018193b7a-400-300/slice.jpg" alt="" /><p><p><strong>Investors</strong>: GGV Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, OLX, and Warburg Pincus</p><p><strong>Latest funding</strong>: Series C </p><p><strong>Funding size</strong>: $43 million in 2020</p><p><strong>Headquarters</strong>: New York City</p><p><strong>What it does</strong>: Slice is an online food ordering app for independent pizzerias.</p><p><strong>Why it will boom in 2021</strong>: "The vertical food firms are going to do really well," Grinda told Business Insider, speaking about what's ahead for 2021. He said that Slice in particular is looking at over $1 billion in sales for next year.</p></p><br/><br/><h3>StockX</h3><img src="https://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5f58cd857ed0ee001e25e226-400-300/stockx.jpg" alt="" /><p><p><strong>Investors</strong>: Founders Circle Capital, Galaxy Interactive (United States), Marcy Venture Partners, General Atlantic, and A.Capital Ventures</p><p><strong>Latest funding</strong>: Series D</p><p><strong>Funding size</strong>: $128 million in 2020</p><p><strong>Headquarters</strong>: Detroit</p><p><strong>What it does</strong>: StockX is an online marketplace specializing in sneakers.</p><p><strong>Why it will boom in 2021</strong>: If 2021 is going to be the year for online marketplaces, then StockX is at the forefront of niche operations. Grinda singled out <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-10-most-expensive-sneakers-the-realreal-jordan-kobe-2020-2020-12">StockX</a> as one of the online marketplaces currently "crushing" the competition. </p></p><br/><br/><h3>Faire</h3><img src="https://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5feb88f5a644880018193b24-400-300/faire.jpg" alt="" /><p><p><strong>Investors</strong>: SD1 Capital Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Dragoneer Investment Group, Founders Fund, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, DST Global, Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, and Forerunner Ventures</p><p><strong>Latest funding</strong>: Series E</p><p><strong>Funding size</strong>: $170 million in 2020</p><p><strong>Headquarters</strong>: San Francisco</p><p><strong>What it does</strong>: Faire is a wholesale online marketplace that uses artificial intelligence to predict which products will sell best.</p><p><strong>Why it will boom in 2021</strong>: Smith said that Faire offers the promise of creating a global "marketplace for wholesale" with plenty of opportunity for "small individual businesses." Smith said that Faire allows non-venture-backed companies once constrained by geography to buildup into a "$10 or $15 million business."</p></p><br/><br/><h3>GOAT</h3><img src="https://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5feb88e9b7ab82001943e779-400-300/goat.jpg" alt="" /><p><p><strong>Investors</strong>: D1 Capital Partners and Foot Locker</p><p><strong>Latest funding</strong>: Series E</p><p><strong>Funding size</strong>: $100 million in 2020</p><p><strong>Headquarters</strong>: Culver City, California</p><p><strong>What it does</strong>: Like StockX, GOAT is an online footwear marketplace.</p><p><strong>Why it will boom in 2021</strong>: Smiths said that GOAT "jumps out" to him, thanks to its marketplace, branding, and slick interface. </p><p>"There's so much opportunity in that market," he said. "From a collector's perspective, you're not relying on analysis to tell you what's hot or what's good. The marketplace is driving it."</p></p><br/><br/><h3>Tock</h3><img src="https://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5feb9974a644880018193b8e-400-300/tock.jpg" alt="" /><p><p><strong>Investor</strong>: Valor Siren Ventures</p><p><strong>Latest funding</strong>: Funding round</p><p><strong>Funding size</strong>: $10 million in May 2020</p><p><strong>Headquarters</strong>: Chicago </p><p><strong>What it does</strong>: Tock is a dining reservation app that pivoted to food orders during COVID-19. </p><p><strong>Why it will boom in 2021</strong>: "Tock is much more integrated with what the restaurant systems are doing and is not dilutive to the restaurant brand," Smith told Business Insider, as opposed to competitors like OpenDoor. "It's allowing the restaurant or the purveyor to continue to reign supreme."</p><p>It also provides a restaurant brand with the added benefit of being cheaper than rivals.</p></p><br/><br/>
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