The 10 Most Valuable Private E-Commerce Companies

Covid-19 has been a shot in the arm for e-commerce, with lockdowns forcing a significant portion of shopping online — and many consumers plan to maintain the habit, even after the pandemic subsides.

This digital shift is creating fresh opportunities for e-commerce companies in the consumer space. In the second half of 2020, e-commerce funding grew by 68% compared to the first half of the year, while a number of new unicorns (private companies valued at $1B+) have also emerged in the space.

Using CB Insights data, we visualized the world’s most valuable private e-commerce companies focused on consumers.

Our analysis includes only private, active, VC-backed companies. We exclude subsidiaries and majority-owned companies. This analysis focuses on consumer-facing e-commerce companies, and we exclude companies focused on e-commerce enablement.

Key takeaways

• San Francisco-based Instacart takes the top spot on our graphic. The grocery delivery unicorn reached a $17.7B valuation in 2020, following a Series H by Valiant Capital Partners and D1 Capital Partners.
• A number of the most valuable e-commerce companies operate consumer-to-consumer (C2C) or business-to-consumer (B2C) marketplaces, including Indonesia-based Tokopedia and China-based Chehaoduo.
• These 10 companies have raised a combined total of $19.8B in disclosed equity funding.
• A majority of the companies in our graphic are based in Asia. China leads in the region with 3 of the top private e-commerce companies, followed by Indonesia, with 2. South Korea and Germany are each home to 1, while the US rounds out the top 10 with 3 companies.
• Nine of these 10 companies raised funding rounds amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Fresh produce chain Xingsheng Selected raised an $800M round in July and then a $700M round in December, while general delivery service GoPuff raised a $380M Series D in October. Indonesia-based Bukalapak raised a $100M Series F from Microsoft, GIC Group, and Erlang Technology to reach a $3.5B valuation in November 2020. 

For more on the consumer e-commerce space, dig into our latest State Of Retail report.