Amazon FBA aggregators, buyers of individual online brands, had a decent first year in 2020. Together, they raised $1bn in funding to help them ‘roll up’ online sellers, predominantly Amazon FBA businesses, into saleable portfolios of like brands.
That was 2020. Turn the clock forward another 12 months and that investment figure has rocketed. During 2021, and following a recent funding round by some of the arena’s bigger fish, investors have ploughed a further $12bn into this new style of business.
On average, that means aggregators have realised the same investment every month in 2021 that they did in the whole of 2020. They know that Amazon sellers want to sell up. Their investors know it. And, between them, they offer distraught (or opportunistic) Amazon FBA business owners a way out.
The Big Five drum up >half of all announced investments
Of the 45 aggregators who’ve completed their 2021 funding rounds, almost two-thirds raised over $100M each.
Thras.io, the shark in the pond, raised close to $3.5bn themselves. The other four aggregators who make up ‘the big five’ raised a similar combined figure.
The remaining 40 aggregators combined raised the other $5bn, meaning the big five netted more than half of all investments.
Beyond this clutch of activity, there are at least another forty firms drumming up investment. We can’t wait to see how much they add to this year’s tally.
Here’s how much our favourite five Amazon aggregators have raised in the latest funding rounds:
| Recent funding rounds: our top 5 Amazon FBA aggregators | ||
|---|---|---|
| Thrasio | Massachusetts, U.S. | $3,400,000,000 |
| Perch | Massachusetts, U.S. | $908,000,000 |
| SellerX | Berlin, Germany | $767,000,000 |
| Heroes | London, United Kingdom | $265,000,000 |
| Branded | Paris, France | $150,000,000 |
| Total | $5,490,000,000.00 | |
Flourishing global business in the face of COVID-19
Using recent history as a yardstick, much of the investment will find its way to North American online businesses. But that doesn’t mean all the aggregator action is happening Stateside.
Affluent European countries have become a hotbed of activity. German, British, Dutch and southern European cities have aggregators who know how to sell your Amazon FBA business as part of a portfolio.
Further afield, the Far East is now well-represented on the map with its own Amazon aggregators, as is its Asian neighbour, India. Also, Mexico is showing for South America, and Canada pitching in to the north of the U.S.
So, despite much of the investment destined for the U.S., it’s clear that aggregation is in no way a local business. That said, there are aggregators looking to buck the trend. In Europe and Asia, local investment, rather than heaping cash into the American market, is catching on.
Amazon FBA business values have more than doubled!
Knowing their raison d’etre, and given the size of investment, you’d be forgiven for thinking that investment comes at the cost of the individual business owner. However, the opposite is true.
These aggregators are run by people and teams from sound financial backgrounds. As proof, the values attributed to the individual businesses have more than doubled over these last two terrific years.
It shows no sign of stopping, either. In 2021, aggregators bought several hundred FBA and other businesses. This market’s moving fast. The prediction for 2022 is that these same investors will buy thousands of existing businesses. They have capital on tap and are looking to spend it.
Will your FBA business be next? We can help you take your first steps to freedom.
Further reading:
This website was created by ex-Amazon sellers, Martin Smith and Richard Turnbull.
To learn about our story, our private label FBA brands, and our first-hand experience selling to Amazon aggregators, click here.
You may also wish to check out our 2022 Definitive Guide to Amazon Aggregators.
Written for FBA sellers, this simple, easy to follow document takes less than 5 minutes to read and represents the culmination of over 100 hours of research into the Amazon aggregator space. To access the guide today, click this link.
