Everstores raises €18 million to buy Shopify merchants

In recent years, Amazon has seen the emergence of "roll-up" specialists, who buy up brands and sellers operating on the platform in order to accelerate their growth. The German company Everstores, for its part, is applying this logic to the Shopify ecosystem, by investing in businesses operating via the Canadian platform built to create sales portals.

Berlin-based Everstores announced that it has raised €18 million, including €10 million in debt and €8 million in equity, led by investors Earlybird Venture Capital. The original investors Picus Capital as well as individual investors from Goldman Sachs and KKR also participated in the deal, bringing the total amount raised since the launch of the project earlier this year to €20 million.

Founded by Kristoffer Herskind, Carlos Lopez and Kirill Martynov, Everstores claims to have already taken over three businesses operating on Shopify, while 500 direct-to-consumer sales companies have reportedly claimed themselves to be potential acquisition candidates. These acquisitions will be used to finance the strengthening of data and operational tools to reinforce the growth of the targeted businesses.

Everstores will have to contend with competition, particularly from America, where the Openstore structure launched in 2021 is now close to a billion dollar valuation. Investments in these "brand aggregators" have exploded in the 2021 financial year, mainly thanks to the ecosystem surrounding Amazon.

This sector has seen the rise of players like D1Brands, Thrasio and Razor Group, as well as Suma Brands, Unybrands, Branded Group and Elevate Brands. Between January and September 2021 alone, these brand companies are estimated to have raised $9 billion, compared with only $2.3 billion over the same period this year.

Everstores raises €18 million to buy Shopify merchants

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