RubiBrands Raises $23 Million in Seed Round to Challenge the E-Commerce Roll-Up Playbook
24 Mayıs 2022
RubiBrands acquires 7 brands, diversifies sourcing to reduce dependence on Asian supply-chain, focuses on hyper-growth marketplaces and Amazon
Hyper-growth marketplaces focused ecommerce roll-up company RubiBrands has raised $23 million in Seed funding to build an alternative approach to the traditional FBA roll-up business model.
The Seed round was led by investors from the US and Europe; including JAM Fund (VC firm launched by Tinder founder Justin Mateen), Atempo Growth, D4 Ventures, Esas Ventures, Alarko Ventures and angel investors from Softbank, Lazada and Merama. The investment was the largest seed funding in the Turkish e-commerce landscape.
Co-founded by Private Equity and E-Commerce veterans Yetkin Güneş, Irtek Uraz, Berkay Tulay and Emre Ekmekci; RubiBrands is the first roll-up company to launch out of Turkey. It focuses on acquiring predominantly Amazon brands sourced from CEEMEA (Central Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa) with the aim to grow them in hyper-growth marketplaces.
"In the traditional FBA roll-up business, there is a major reliance in sourcing from Asia, which saw the lead times almost triple for consumer products. We aim to overcome the margin erosion caused by supply chain problems, using Turkey as a central logistics hub. Bypassing sourcing from Asia creates significant service level benefits. Also, being close to the manufacturers allows us to innovate faster and control the quality of our products.
We believe going beyond Amazon and winning in other hyper-growth marketplaces as well as direct-to-consumer channels creates diversification of revenue and consumer reach," says CEO Yetkin Güneş.
Rubi has already expanded into 15+ channels; including Amazon US, UK, Germany and UAE as well as local jumbo marketplaces Trendyol, Hepsiburada, Allegro, Zalando, Noon, Jumia and fast e-commerce players like Getir.
“We acquire top brands that are shielded from bona-fide FBA aggregator competition and supply chain bottlenecks. We prefer to invest in larger, more established and highly profitable brands and partner up with the founders. This allows for a non-disruptive know-how transfer and continuous product innovation. Our goal is to become the leading roll-up business in the region, reaching 25 brands, 12 million units shipped and a $110 million annual revenue in the next 12 months,” says Chief Investment Officer Irtek Uraz.