The Order : Weekly Aggregator Roundup - Upper90

Chart of the week

71,000 net new stores added in the first half of 2022 - while the number of Shopify merchants keeps growing, its growth has rapidly slowed from +680,000 in 2020 and +314,000 in 2021 [Reuters].

Shopify Global Merchants [Reuters | YipitData]

New funding this week: $180M

Funding Craze 💰

• This time not into an aggregator, but rather a core financing firm of the space: Upper90 closes third fund on $180M for further investments in fintech, eCommerce and supply chain. The firms combined debt & equity investments from prior funds already support the growth of 10Club, Acquco, Elevate Brands, Heroes, Opontia, Stryze, Thrasio and Valoreo among others. [Fintech Global]

Movers & Shakers 🤝

• US: eCommerce solution aggregator Pantastic grows with Shopify & BigCommerce app acquisition: Pantastic acquires AI-powered product recommendation application LimeSpot [Pantastic]

• India: 52 D2C Brands That Are Disrupting India’s Consumer Market [Inc42]

Strategy 📈

• An eCommerce accelerator perspective of the aggregation world: "What does the future look like for e-commerce aggregators?" [Techcrunch]

• "Upper90's strategy of cutting checks with credit and equity may be more relevant than ever" [Techcrunch]

• DTC Trends: 10 Insights from DTC Experts and Notable Stats [Shopify]

• Direct-to-Consumer Sales Are Fueling Supply-Chain Tech Growth [Wall Street Journal]

• Discount stores benefit: "Inflation steers budget shoppers away from Walmart. Bringing them back may not be easy" [Reuters]

• African eCommerce growth: "Jumia shares rise as the company's eCommerce business revs up in Q2" [Techcrunch]

Let's make this week count,

Christian