The race is on for firms constructing e-commerce empires by rolling up smaller, promising companies that promote through Amazon and different marketplaces and rising by utilizing some economies of scale to function them as one. In the newest improvement, Berlin Brands Group has raised $240 million that it says will probably be utilizing to amass smaller however promising enterprises in Europe and North America — particularly the U.S. — which are already making between $1 million and $100 million in gross sales through marketplaces like Amazon.
The funding is coming within the type of debt, not fairness, and it’s coming particularly from UniCredit, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, BBG founder and CEO Peter Chaljawski mentioned in an interview. BBG is worthwhile and earlier this 12 months it dedicated greater than $300 million off its steadiness sheet for purchasing up and working firms, and so with this debt spherical (which we reported earlier this 12 months was within the works), it now has $540 million for that goal.
“We’re in a wonderful situation with a proven business model, and this is the cheapest money you could get,” he mentioned of the choice to go for debt, a alternative usually made by startups which are in capital-intensive modes however both are reluctant or don’t want to surrender fairness to lift capital to scale if they’re producing money. In the case of BBG it’s the latter, as the corporate is worthwhile. “This is better than equity. BBG does not have any debt as of 2020, and we had cash on hand for our first acquisitions, 20 brands that we bought in cash from our balance sheet. Now we want to accelerate that even more.”
Chaljawski mentioned that BBG could nicely faucet an fairness spherical within the close to future to carry on buyers to form its personal development and set a valuation for the corporate. (For a degree of comparability, rivals like Thrasio at the moment are valued within the a number of billions of {dollars}.)
BBG has up to now principally constructed its enterprise round beginning up and scaling its personal in-house manufacturers that promote on Amazon and elsewhere — beginning first with house audio gear, popping out of Chaljawski’s personal pursuits in sound expertise from a earlier life as a budding dance music DJ. Its manufacturers embody Klarstein (kitchen home equipment), auna (house electronics and music gear), Capital Sports (house health) and blumfeldt (backyard).

In a giant transfer to scale and construct out what it’s established itself, final 12 months BBG shifted over to the roll-up mannequin: leveraging extra shopping for energy to chop higher offers with producers and different suppliers, consolidating a few of the different capabilities like advertising and marketing and offering a extra complete set of analytics round what’s promoting finest, who’s shopping for, how finest to market an merchandise and extra. It says it has 1.3 million sq. ft of warehouse house in Europe, Asia and the U.S. and is among the greatest Amazon sellers in Europe at the moment.
The primary thought of rolling up companies that promote on the Amazon platform with FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) has been round for years actually, however the notable and newer shift is that it has taken on a startup profile partly due to how a few of the newest entrants are leveraging massive information analytics, the newest improvements in manufacturing and logistics expertise and a founder-led, e-commerce ethos to develop the mannequin.
“Without data, you would go nowhere in this business,” Chaljawski mentioned. “But on top of that, there is something you can’t pull from market data — a toolbox of manufacturing and engineering expertise that we use to evaluate products.” He says that BBG’s information scientists construct algorithms that monitor hundreds of thousands of merchandise, and a whole lot of hundreds of sellers to supply the information that it makes use of each to supply potential acquisitions and to run the enterprise.

U.S. gamers like Thrasio — which itself closed a $1.2 billion Series C for a similar functions: rolling up and scaling — have led the cost. But in latest months we’ve seen plenty of others additionally transfer into the house, buoyed by a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in funding from buyers very eager to trip the e-commerce wave and the imaginative and prescient of tapping into a few of the economies of scale and {the marketplace} mannequin which were such a juggernaut for Amazon.
It’s a two-sided market, and Amazon has targeted totally on incomes cash from working {the marketplace} itself and gross sales to shoppers, in order that leaves an enormous alternative on the desk for another person (or because it occurs, many others) to sort out the chance to handle the wants and companies of the opposite aspect of that market: the sellers.
In addition to BBG and Thrasio, others in the identical house embody Branded, which launched its personal roll-up enterprise on $150 million in funding earlier this 12 months, in addition to SellerX, Heyday, Heroes and Perch, amongst a number of others. Even eradicating the very extremely capitalized Thrasio and BBG from the equation, these firms have collectively raised or dedicated from their very own steadiness sheets a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to purchase up small however promising third-party retailers.
If that feels like a crowded market, nicely, it in all probability is. These are additionally startups, in any case, and so the probabilities that a few of these roll-up consolidators is not going to be that expert at working a number of firms — with their disparate provide chains, buyer bases, substitute cycles and advertising and marketing methods — are as dangerous as in every other space of e-commerce startup curiosity.
On the opposite hand, although, there are a number of alternatives to play for right here.
By one estimate, there are about 5 million third-party sellers on Amazon at the moment, a quantity that seems to be rising exponentially, with greater than 1 million sellers becoming a member of the platform in 2020 alone. Out of these, Thrasio estimates there are in all probability 50,000 companies promoting on the Amazon platform with FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) which are making $1 million or extra per 12 months in revenues.
We have identified earlier than that inside that larger variety of retailers, there are an enormous quantity of clones and corporations of questionable high quality. What is fascinating is that there are distinct firms, constructed round extra originality and aptitude, swimming in that sea: a few of them have damaged by way of and floated, whereas others haven’t.

So for a corporation like BBG, the chance lies in the truth that for a lot of of those smaller however promising retailers, they haven’t been constructed with longer-term development visions in place. The retailers may not be ready for the type of scaling, funding or operational dedication that might should be made to maintain their companies going, or they merely don’t have the urge for food for it. BBG’s promoting level — as it’s with others on this house — is that they do.
And BBG’s added pitch is that they can assist open one other door, to Europe. In the area, Amazon on common has a couple of 10% market share of marketplaces, BBG estimates, with regional gamers accounting for extra market exercise than within the U.S. BBG not solely has the hyperlinks into promoting on these different marketplaces, however the promise is that it may possibly assist enhance how a model will promote on Amazon itself within the area, given its traction out there already. Conversely, it hopes to do the identical for European manufacturers by giving them a greater window into promoting within the U.S.
Chaljawski is nevertheless lifelike in regards to the profusion of firms like his, and is “sure” there will likely be some casualties down the street. He additionally believes that we could begin to see some emerge round particular verticals instead.
“Yes, I’m sure consolidation will happen, but I also think that we’ll see some specialization, with roll-ups focusing on one vertical or another. I think it will be a mix,” he mentioned.