From Zulily’s huge exit to massive VC financings to startups ranging from Warby Parker to Quirky, 2013 has been quite an active year for venture activity in the Internet eCommerce sector. Earlier this fall, Upfront Ventures investor Greg Bettinelli commented on the continued appeal of eCommerce tech to startups and the investors backing them:
“Why bother” building a company in/around eCommerce? That is the easiest question – the answer is…in the US alone online sales will grow about 15% increase this year and over the next four years will grow from ~$260 billion to this year to ~$370 billion in 2017. It is very early and many new companies will play large roles in the future of ecommerce and at the same time those playing leading roles now will play even larger roles in the future.”
With eCommerce venture capital financing going strong and some ecommerce IPO candidates in the mix for 2014, we wanted to highlight a few of the most active venture investors in the Internet eCommerce space this year as well as some of the largest venture-backed financings and exits using the interactive “Rankings” feature on CB Insights. The data below:
The Investors
500 Startups tops the list of investors by deal activity to U.S.-based Internet eCommerce firms in 2013 year-to-date, followed by First Round Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. After getting in Zulily early, Maveron, the venture firm founded by Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, was also highly active this year at the early-stage, investing in eCommerce startups including Vaunte and DIY crafts startup Darby Smart.
The Financings
One of the most interesting trends we saw in eCommerce investing in 2013 was the significant gap in dollars between the top U.S. eCommerce financings and those abroad. Of the largest U.S.-based financings this year involving a venture capital investor, Fab.com tops the list, followed by LivingSocial’s $110M injection and JustFab’s Series C round.
But like the travel & hospitality sector, the largest venture financings in eCommerce this year were decidedly internationally-based. In fact, the top 5 non-U.S. eCommerce rounds which include the likes of Shopify and Flipkart saw 25% more funding in aggregate than the top 5 U.S.-based eCommerce rounds. Four of the top 10 international financings went to Rocket Internet companies.
The Exits
On the exit front, Zulily’s strong IPO performance was the highlight in the eCommerce space in 2013. But there were several other notable U.S. venture-backed exits this year including the likes of RetailMeNot, backed by investors including Austin Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners. The top 5 U.S. venture-backed eCommerce-related exits based on valuation at time of exit are below.
For more eCommerce financing and exit data and interactive rankings, check out the CB Insights Venture Capital Database. Sign up for free below.