Boosted Commerce today announced $87M in funding and it has acquired six Amazon fulfillment (FBA) companies as it scales quickly toward its goal of building a comprehensive ecommerce portfolio platform. Boosted plans to acquire and develop 100 e-commerce Consumer Package Brands over the next four years.
Investors include Torch Capital; Crosscut Ventures; Spencer Rascoff, entrepreneur and co-founder of Zillow and Hotwire; Elie Seidman, former CEO of Tinder; Tucker Kain, President of Los Angeles Dodgers; Ken Ramberg, founder of Goodpods; Scott Hendrickson, co-founder and partner, Permian Investment Partners; Thomas O. Staggs, former Chief Operating Officer of The Walt Disney Company; Marc Mezvinksy, managing director TPG; and David Farahi, Chief Operating Officer of Monarch Casino & Resort Inc.
“Amazon and Shopify have dramatically empowered thousands of online businesses who are generating billions of dollars in economic impact, creating countless jobs and unprecedented opportunities for small brands,” said Boosted Commerce co-founder Charlie Chanaratsopon. “We’re leveraging the hard work these entrepreneurs have put into creating popular brands used by millions of people and taking them to the next level.”
Boosted Commerce is building a collection of beloved third party companies and brands with strong customer loyalty and sales on the Amazon and Shopify platforms. Boosted Commerce offers these business sellers a 45-day closing process built on a commitment to fair, market value offers and ethical, transparent negotiations.
Boosted is positioned to accelerate growth for acquired entities, thanks to its leadership team’s deep operations, marketing and product sales expertise that is responsible for generating over $1B+ of M&A related businesses in both the online and offline sectors.
Charlie Chanaratsopon previously built a retail brand to 5,000 employees, 350 stores globally, and $500 million in revenue. Forbes named him “America’s 40 Most Successful Young Entrepreneurs.” Keith Richman co-founded Voi Technology, a leading European based mobility company and previously co-founded Break Media, OnePage, and Billpoint Inc. He currently serves on the board of directors of GrubHub, The Meet Group and Vostok New Ventures. Anton von Rueden, previously COO of TechStyle Fashion Group and Managing Director of eBay Germany; Adam Epstein, formerly of consumer focused private equity firm Lion Capital; and Drew Lessard, previously a management consultant with Kearney, round out the leadership team.
“Boosted Commerce is at the forefront of one of the largest e-commerce opportunities we have seen in recent years,” said Jon Keidan, Founder and Managing Partner, Torch Capital. “It has never been easier to launch an e-commerce business. What is harder is transitioning a successful business to the next phase of growth. There are very few people in the industry that know how to do that better than Charlie. I’ve known Charlie for years and have watched him scale brands that are both beloved and highly successful. He and the Boosted team have a proven playbook for scaling e-commerce brands and they are the right partner for any entrepreneur wanting to catapult their business to new heights.”
“We backed Boosted Commerce because they have all the right ingredients for success: A world-class team with proven success; a huge addressable market; and unmatched entrepreneurial passion by their founders,” said Brett Brewer, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, CrossCut Ventures.
FBA businesses have become online juggernauts, representing 60 percent of gross merchandise sold on Amazon. There are now 8 million third party sellers on Amazon with 367,000 joining this year alone, and 25,000 businesses generating more than $1M in revenue a year.
“The founders of Boosted Commerce are world class entrepreneurs and operators. Their bold vision of acquiring and accelerating successful online businesses is a huge opportunity,” said Spencer Rascoff, co-founder and former CEO of Zillow.
