Thrasio raises another $100m to buy up Amazon sellers

1 Apr 2021

Image: © Monkey Business/Stock.adobe.com

The company has appointed a new chief financial officer after raising more than $1.6bn in debt and equity funding in less than a year.

Thrasio, a US company that buys up Amazon sellers, has raised $100m in yet another funding tranche, just weeks after it raised $750m.

The additional capital is an extension to its Series C round. This follows a $500m debt financing round in January and a $260m round last July. In less than a year the company has raised more than $1.6bn in both equity and debt financing.

Across the various cash injections, equity backers included Advent International and Oaktree Capital Management while banks including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Barclays provided debt.

This latest investment is made up of existing investors but Thrasio has not disclosed which ones, nor has it disclosed its new valuation. The company, which was founded in 2018, hit unicorn status in July of last year.

Thrasio’s hefty mix of debt and equity – similar to that of German rival SellerX – is needed for its capital-intensive model of buying up thousands of businesses that sell products on Amazon through the e-commerce giant’s Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) service.

FBA businesses use Amazon’s warehouse and fulfilment infrastructure to carry out their sales and dispatch.

To steward its massive investments, Thrasio has appointed a chief financial officer in Bill Wafford, who was previously the CFO of JCPenney and has held senior roles at Target and Walgreens.

“Thrasio’s trajectory and the speed at which it has achieved growth is impressive to say the least, especially how they’ve capitalised on the market changes that have occurred over the last twelve months,” Wafford said.

Thrasio chief executive Josh Silberstein said Wafford will help in steering the company’s next phases of growth, which includes a major international push.

“Bill’s extensive experience as a leader at multibillion-dollar global retail and consumer brands and his strong understanding of complex marketplaces will be invaluable to Thrasio as it continues to expand into new geographies and channels,” Silberstein said.

Last month, it entered Japan with a local team to oversee the acquisition of Amazon seller businesses there. Weeks prior, it bedded down in Germany and UK in order to take on the European market.

Jonathan Keane is a freelance business and technology journalist based in Dublin

editorial@siliconrepublic.com