The Order : Weekly Aggregator Roundup - Elevate, Moonshot, UpScalio & Flummox

Chart of the Week

As PYMNTS reports, Amazon accounted for 56.7% of US eCommerce in 2021. Amazon's share doubled since 2014 with its leading categories being Clothing & Apparel​, Sporting Goods, Hobby, Music & Books, and Furniture & Home Furnishings. The report outlines further category comparisons with Walmart.

Amazon vs Walmart Marketshare as a % of US eCommerce Sales [PMNTS]

New funding this week: $608M

Funding Craze 💰

• US: Elevate Brands adds a $400M credit facility from BlackRock. The team of 200+ employees employees operates 32 FBA brands today. [Bezinga]

• US: Moontshot Brands announced a $30M equity led by Anthemis with an additional credit facility of $150M led by Victoria Park Capital. The team currently operates 9 brands [Techcrunch]

• India: UpScalio announced a $15M pre Series B raise led by Gulf Islamic Investments [Inc42]

• EU: Flummox announced a $13M seed round led by Fasanara Capital to acquire micro FBA brands & turn them into category leaders. The article include some slides for the team's deck. [Business Insider]

Movers & Shakers 🤝

• US: Upexi - an aggregator launched by Grove last fall - acquires, but also funds Amazon-first brands: "Grove Expands Amazon Aggregator Division To Widen Net In Multibillion-Dollar Market" [Bezinga]

• US: "Pilot Wave Holdings Acquires Tapuya Brands Corporation in Latest Bid to Transform Amazon Products into Brands Through Technology" [PR Newswire]

• APAC: "Una Brands working on new fundraising round, eyes Thailand foray this year" [Deal Street Asia]

• India: DTC Lifestyle brand Boat digs taps aggregation to turn into a house of brands [Economic Times]

• UK: The Fortia Group Launches the World's First-ever Investment Syndicate Solely for eCommerce Aggregators [Yahoo Finance]

Strategy 📈

• 1P/Vendor changes coming to India: "A cart of woes: With no catamaran to keep it afloat, Amazon may sink Cloudtail" [Economic Times]

• Shenzhen - accounting for 50% of China's online retail export - is under lockdown: "China Lockdowns May Delay Orders From Platforms Like Amazon"[Bloomberg] - on the weekend measures were relaxed [Bloomberg]

• Insights around eCommerce's continued growth: "Pandemic’s E-commerce Surge Proves Less Persistent, More Varied" [IMF]

• "The Aftermath of Covid for Ecommerce" [Moonshot Brand Research]

• "Amazon’s physical advertising ambitions grow as other retailers play catch up" [Modern Retail]

• "The State of Ecommerce UX: COVID-19 and Direct-to-Consumer Retail Raise the Bar" [Nielsen Norman Group]

• eBay is larger than it's vertical competitors, yet their market cap exceed eBay's: "Unbundling eBay" [Marketplace Pulse]

• A step towards an FBA competitor? "Google Makes a Move to Take on Shopify, Amazon and Walmart" [Deal Street]

Events 🎤

• 2nd eCommerce Aggregator Pitch Day by the German Online Retail Association on April 26 2022 in Cologne [BVOH]

Last but not least, a note on the vibe at Prosper:

The biggest Prosper Show to date reflected the high energy in the space. There are strategic corrections, learnings around operating a house of brands on Amazon, and evolving focus around categories - but most of all the is an unparalleled excitement for the space to grow. An ongoing influx of new sellers, capital, service providers and human capital are a key force behind a professionalization that also pushes Amazon's GMV to its strongest to date.

Let's make this week count,

Christian