Amazon e-commerce boom pushes startup valuation to $2 billion

Pattern Inc.   The company, which started out selling fridge magnets and trinkets on Amazon’s third-party marketplace, said it raised $225 million in new outside investment at a valuation of about $2 billion. Founded in 2013, the Lehi, Utah-based company has about 950 employees and operates in 18 countries .

Online marketplace sales, once a sideshow for many, have become big business in recent years. But building a new Amazon is so hard that many are starting to fund companies poised to benefit from the rise of the biggest online retailers. Investment banks, venture capital firms and private equity firms have poured billions into e-commerce aggregators, which bring together online brands and work to boost their sales and achieve economies of scale.

Pattern occupies a relevant niche market ( Niche Market-also called a gap market, which refers to certain market segments that are ignored/abandoned by the dominant/dominant companies in the market ) and acts as a consultant and sales agent for other companies. The company now manages e-commerce sales for some brands, buys products wholesale and sells them online, and this business brings more than half of the company's sales. Clients include Nestle SA , Panasonic Corp. and Yogi Tea Co. ( a popular tea brand in the United States, with a popularity equivalent to Lipton in China )

Pattern says it is one of the top five third-party sellers on Amazon by revenue. It also operates on most other major online marketplaces, including eBay, Walmart, Alibaba’s Tmall and JD.com, and has set up its own in-house designer and branding studio.

"After the pandemic, there are many behaviors that will not go back," he also said in the interview. "That's why we have to redouble our efforts." In other words, the pandemic has made people develop the habit of online consumption. Even if the pandemic is over, the convenience and services provided by online shopping will not make consumers easily change this habit . Online shopping will become more and more popular, and the market will become larger and larger.

Pattern says it has been profitable since its founding, with revenue of about $500 million in 2019, and Wright said the company is on track to more than double that figure next year.

Amazon

E-commerce

Entrepreneurship