Sellerx becomes a unicorn

16 months old, now unicorn status: the start-up Sellerx has raised 500 million US dollars in its current financing round and is buying another Amazon retailer.

The Berlin-based company's success continues: Sellerx announces that it has raised 500 million US dollars in debt and equity in its financing round. The money comes from Blackrock as well as investors Sofina from Belgium and Victory Park Capital from Chicago. Sellerx only received 100 million euros in August. The start-up describes itself as an aggregator of e-commerce stores - meaning that the Berlin-based company collects small Amazon retailers, modeled on the US giant Thrasio.

With this financing round, the Berliners are joining their competitors Razor Group and Berlin Brands Group (BBG), both start-ups are already unicorns. BBG has raised a total of 1.3 billion US dollars.

In order to expand its portfolio, Sellerx has also acquired the Amazon retailer KW-Commerce in the current round. Both parties are keeping quiet about the purchase price. Founded in 2012, the company employs 450 people and has a turnover of 100 million euros with 22,000 products. Sellerx, on the other hand, has a team of 300 employees and has been in existence since 2020.

The founders Jens Wasel and Max Kronberg are joining the company and will join the management of Sellerx. The acquisition is "a groundbreaking addition to our growing portfolio", says Sellerx co-founder Malte Horeyseck. "KW-Commerce's well-established operational presence, including a 70-strong sourcing team in Hong Kong and an international warehouse infrastructure, will help us to create a resilient and flexible supply chain," says Horeyseck.

Horeyseck knows his Sellerx co-founder Philipp Triebel from his student days at Harvard. Horeyseck then built up Dafiti, the Brazilian alternative to Zalando. Triebel worked for Goldman Sachs, among others.