Unybrands is the latest e-commerce aggregator to pick up a significant investment, this time closing $300 million in growth capital from Crayhill Capital Management.
The Miami-based company, which created a platform for e-commerce businesses looking to scale their operations on and off Amazon, was founded in 2020. It previously raised a $25 million seed round in February.
Unybrands looks for brands across eight categories, including baby, garden and outdoor, sports and fitness and personal care, and provides capital and resources to grow those brands.
Since the February seed round, Unybrands said it closed on multiple acquisitions in both the United States and Europe, and along with more in the works, will put the company on track to beat its 2021 projections of completing 20 deals.
Ulrich Kratz, co-founder and CEO, told TC via email that the funding “gives us more firepower to execute and overachieve on our business goals.” It will also enable the company to accelerate acquisitions of Fulfillment By Amazon brands, invest in technology development and further build out its team. Unybrands has more than 25 full-time employees across the U.S., Europe and Asia and plans to more than double its headcount by the end of the year.
The company said it already began building out its technology platform to provide functionalities like finding new targets, automating supply chain management and optimizing e-commerce growth investments.
“Unybrands had an incredibly strong first half of the year,” Kratz said. “We’ve been able to accelerate our business plan across all fronts, including acquisitions, technology and team building. Crayhill has significant e-commerce experience in general and a dedicated strategy to finance players in the Amazon ecosystem, and they have been a great partner.”
Unybrands’ major cash infusion follows a strong e-commerce trend of buying and consolidating multiple smaller third-party merchants that sell their goods via Amazon’s marketplace. Leading the pack is Thrasio, which raised nearly $2 billion in both debt and equity over the past three years.
This capital raise is in good company: This week, Elevate Brands brought in $250 million in funding, while a new company, Foundry, debuted after raising $100 million. Others amassing large rounds recently include Heyday’s $70 million from General Catalyst and Berlin’s The Razor Group raise of $400 million.
Kratz feels the real growth and penetration of e-commerce and direct-to-consumer is just starting to accelerate, which is creating an environment for several players to provide better ways to do business.
“And, the space has attracted a lot of capital, which is a big validation of the enormous upside,” he added.
