• SellerX

  Participated · Equity · Mar 2021

  SellerX acquires and operates third-party brands on Amazon and other online marketplaces, having brought 40+ brands under its umbrella since its founding in September 2020. The company pursues a roll-up strategy, integrating acquired sellers and investing in technology and operational infrastructure to scale brands both organically and via M&A. SellerX announced approximately $500 million in additional debt and equity financing and had previously closed a $118 million equity round in August 2021, bringing total capital raised to more than $750 million and a unicorn pre-money valuation. It recently acquired KW-Commerce, a Berlin-headquartered private label Amazon seller with more than $100 million in annual revenues, 22,000 active products, 450 employees, and 350,000 sq ft of warehouse space across four warehouses. With the KW-Commerce deal, SellerX's portfolio exceeds 25,000 products and the company operates 11 offices across Europe, Asia, and the U.S. The new funding will be used to fuel growth, support further acquisitions, and expand operational systems and supply-chain infrastructure. SellerX acquires and scales third-party Amazon FBA and other e-commerce businesses into established brands. Founded in September 2020 by Malte Horeyseck and Philipp Triebel, the company is based in Berlin, Germany and operates hubs in Berlin, London, and Miami. SellerX has grown from zero to over 250 employees and currently incorporates 30+ evergreen brands across diversified verticals. The company raised €100M in the reported funding round. It intends to use the new capital to expand operations and broaden its business reach. Prior to this round, SellerX had already raised almost a quarter of a billion euro in debt and equity. SellerX acquires and grows Amazon-native brands and marketplace businesses, coordinating operations to maximize performance on and off Amazon. The company takes a flexible, seller-focused approach to acquisitions to meet each brand's needs. Since its seed announcement it has closed 20 acquisitions across Europe and North America and onboarded 120 employees. SellerX has established a presence in Berlin, London, Cologne, and Miami. Financially, the company raised an additional €26 million, bringing its available capital to €130 million. The team highlights strong operational experience among its founders as a core advantage in consolidating fragmented Amazon seller markets. SellerX acquires Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) shops, consolidates them, rebrands the products, and applies technology and growth strategies to build next-generation consumer brands. The model is explicitly based on Thrasio’s roll-up approach, targeting category-winning, highly profitable Amazon products. Founders Malte Horeyseck and Philipp Triebel met at Harvard Business School and bring experience in entrepreneurship, e-commerce, private equity and roll-up strategies. The company completed its first acquisition at the end of the summer and says it is growing quickly. SellerX expects an annual revenue run rate of €20 million by the end of the year. The team relocated back to Germany to operate in Europe’s largest Amazon market.

• Pley

  Participated · Series B · Feb 2015

  Pley operates a platform that rents and sells LEGO-based kits and has launched PleyWorld, a crowdsourcing channel where user submissions that reach 5,000 votes are turned into sets with instructions and offered for rent or purchase. Submissions can move from concept to a shipping product in as little as two weeks, and Pley handles most of the kit-building and distribution work. Creators retain copyright and authority over use of their designs under PleyWorld’s terms, though they do not receive direct financial payments when their sets are produced. The company emphasizes environmental benefits from its rental model and notes individual set pricing depends on piece count and complexity (rentals can be as low as $9.99). Pley also cites a “good relationship” with LEGO and notes a former senior LEGO designer is among its investors. Recently the company raised additional capital to support international expansion into Europe and Asia. Pley operates a subscription service that lets families rent unlimited LEGO sets through monthly plans. Launched in 2013 by Ranan Lachman and Elina Furman and based in San Jose, the company inventories, cleans and sanitizes each set between shipments. Monthly subscriptions are offered at $15, $25 and $39 depending on set size. To date more than 15,000 families have purchased subscriptions and Pley has shipped over 75,000 packages. The company plans to use new capital to build a multi‑product platform and expand into additional toy lines, aiming to make playtime more affordable, convenient and environmentally friendly. Pley is hiring and continues to scale operations from its San Jose warehouse.

• Lawn Love

  Participated · Seed · Nov 2014

  Lawn Love operates a tech platform that connects people who need lawncare with professionals who provide seeding, aeration, fertilization and repair, mowing and maintenance, and yard clean-up services. The company is led by founder and CEO Jeremy Yamaguchi and was launched out of Y Combinator's Summer 2014 batch. It is based in San Diego, CA and is currently available in San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles, and San Jose. Lawn Love raised $1.9M in seed funding and intends to use the proceeds to expand operations. The platform enables users to find, book, and pay landscaping and lawncare providers through its service.

• Speakr

  Participated · Seed · Oct 2014

  twtMob, rebranding as Speakr, operates a platform that connects brands with social influencers to promote events, products and entertainment across Twitter, Instagram and Vine, and is beta testing on Snapchat. Its technology filters a network of roughly 20,000 top content creators, presents paid posting opportunities, and monitors, delivers and optimizes campaigns in real time; all sponsored posts are disclosed. Since founding in 2010 and based in Los Angeles, the company has executed more than 1,000 campaigns for clients such as Microsoft, Kia, Corona and Samsung and major movie studios and TV networks. Speakr’s campaigns generated more than three billion impressions last year, and the company works with over 60 brands across the past 24 months. Financially, Speakr generated millions in revenue last year, with 2013 revenues double those of 2012 and a new-business close rate above 40 percent. The company plans to use new funding to extend its offerings to additional social networks and to develop predictive technologies and analytics tools for influencer-driven offline engagements and content distribution.

• Feed Media

  Participated · Equity · Sep 2014

  Feed Media (aka Feed.fm) operates a music-as-a-service platform that lets companies legally use licensed music in websites, games, and mobile apps while providing analytics on user engagement. The company services brands such as Budweiser, GameSalad, and Starr Hill Brewery and is not consumer-facing. CEO and founder Jeff Yasuda emphasizes that Feed Media handles the legal and royalty complexities that deter marketers from using music. Clients reportedly see an average 400% increase in customer engagement and about 80% of those users are likely to return after an initial visit. The company has six full-time employees and plans to use new capital to hire additional engineering and sales talent. Feed Media aims to position music as a cost-effective tool to retain users and boost in-app purchases for customers such as game developers. Feed Media owns several music-focused properties, notably Blip.fm and Fuzz. Blip.fm is described in the filing as a "Twitter for streaming music," and Fuzz transforms social playlists into Internet radio stations rather than relying on algorithmic suggestions. The company was incorporated in 2011 and is led by founder Jeff Yasuda, who said Fuzz is only a small piece of Feed Media's broader plans. Feed Media holds some licensing deals for Fuzz that could translate to other music properties. The company has kept its wider strategy quiet and has not disclosed detailed future plans. An SEC filing shows Feed Media has raised $1.1 million toward a targeted $1.5 million round.

No current team members are available.