Olga Kotsur’s Post

Angels can do it faster 😉... ⚡ Shop Circle founders Luca Cartechini and Gian Maria Gramondi approached me in early 2021 for pre-seed funding to do a roll-up of the very best tools for eCommerce merchants ⚡ They were hungry, experienced and not taking salaries until they raised an institutional round ⚡ A single face-2-face meeting, desk research and reference calls quickly convinced me as an angel that they had what it took to deliver a potentially very exciting business and to invest 💡 Whilst it is not always the case, do remember that angels can commit faster than VCs in these pre-seed rounds when an investment thesis can be harder to justify to LPs 💡 And the result? Shop Circle has just announced its latest round of $120M, taking its total funding to $185M in a mixture of debt and equity 🎉 Congratuations to the whole team!  Link in comments below 👇 #venturecapital #investments #technology #startups

Zepto, a startup in quick commerce, raised an incredible $665 million in its most recent #fundraising round, increasing its valuation to an astounding $3.6 billion. This demonstrates the company's remarkable growth trajectory and nearly triples its value in only a single year. Both current and potential investors were drawn to the investment round. Accompanying longtime backers Glade Brook, Nexus, StepStone, Goodwater, and Lachy Groom were #newcomers Avenir, Lightspeed, and Avra. Aadit Palicha, CEO of Zepto, credits the company's remarkable performance throughout the supply chain for its extraordinary development. They have reached nearly operational cash flow positivity thanks to their focus on "sourcing excellence, mother hub #effectiveness, line haul utilisation, last-mile creativity, and forecasting". "We've gone from 0 to 1 billion-plus in revenue in just 29 months, faster than every other internet business before us," Palicha stated. Despite having a revenue base that surpasses one billion dollars, we continue to grow at a rate of more than 100% annually. This is a key factor in our success in raising #money." The fact that by May 2024, approximately 75% of Zepto's outlets had already achieved full EBITDA positivity serves as additional evidence of this accomplishment. Palicha anticipates that throughout the next 12 to 18 months, the business will continue to be close to operating cash flow positive, opening the door for a possible public offering in the following 9 to 12 months. Kaivalya Vohra, co-founder and chief #technology officer of Zepto, highlighted the company's dedication to drawing in top talent for a range of roles. "We offer a rapidly expanding, high-meritocracy, and high-intensity atmosphere where hard work and ambition get rewarded with exceptional advancement opportunities," added Vohra. Zepto's outstanding fundraising round and operational effectiveness confirm its leadership in the rapidly expanding fast commerce market. The company is positioned for a bright #future and a possible IPO on the horizon thanks to its concentration on development while achieving near profitability. www.tycoonstory.com #ZeptoSuccess #QuickCommerce #StartupGrowth #FundraisingRound #ValuationBoost #InvestorInterest #RapidGrowth #ECommerce #SupplyChainExcellence #OperationalEfficiency #RevenueMilestone #IPOReady #TechTalent #BusinessInnovation #MarketLeadership Zepto

Recently, this news has become widespread throughout the Italian startup ecosystem 🇮🇹 The challenges associated with quick-commerce are well-known, and, to date, no one has successfully turned it into a profitable venture on a large scale. However, I'm curious—who acquired Everli and what are their plans for it? If you have any insights, please do share.. #everli #quickcommerce

Now that both Instacart and Klayvio have gone public, venture investors are feeling relief mixed with buyer's remorse after these IPOs brought clarity to the startup market. Get the full scoop from PitchBook here:

#ITC is conducting its 112th annual general board meeting in the coming month. But, now #Cricket is 20-20. #Businesses are 20-20. Flashes in the pan are overrated and consistency underrated by the #Media and hence founders follow 20-20. That's my hope for Blackbucks Group🦌 and all the #startups that want to build a #reputation based firm: to be there for 100 years and more - beyond the #founders.

Reading about Everli's journey in the recent Sifted article is a stark reminder of the volatile path of entrepreneurship, especially in the startup world. This story resonates deeply with me as the CEO of SiWeGO, where every day is a testament to resilience and adaptability in the face of unanticipated challenges. The startup landscape is tumultuous, with highs and lows that test our perseverance and commitment. Yet, it's these very challenges that also bring out the best in us - innovation, creativity, and the relentless pursuit of making a difference. Everli’s experience is a powerful lesson for all of us in the startup community. However, amidst these challenges, there lies immense potential for growth and learning. Every setback is an opportunity to reassess, pivot, and emerge stronger. It's crucial to stay focused on our vision and the positive impact we can create. Remember, it's not just about surviving the storm but also about learning to dance in the rain. Here's to resilience, learning, and continued innovation in our journeys. Here you read the article: https://lnkd.in/eRCWDZ-B

Made with Intent is for those who know eCommerce can be better. And we’ve just raised £1.5m to spread that message. We’re delighted to be building it. Not only because our livelihoods depend on it, but because we’ve made something that makes online retail more personal for customers and more profitable for retailers. A win-win. Since starting this product (and for many years previous) we’ve worked with retailers of all sizes and noticed a common problem. In online retail, we’ve fallen for a form of digital directness. We’ve forgotten how to sell like humans in favour of pushing for a quick buck. We’ve digitised the shopping process, but also made lots of things about it cold or binary. But people don’t work this way. Buying doesn’t work this way. Mercuri had conviction in us to lead this round and propel this message forward. Portfolio Ventures and Haatch also followed. Thank you 🤙 — If you’d like to learn more about what we do, give me a shout and follow Made With Intent. ** Coming soon - my personal fundraising journey, which is a doozy. 🐣

Made With Intent Seed round 🚀 I'm so happy to finally be able to share that Intent has raised £1.5m led by our new friends at Mercuri, with participation from Portfolio Ventures and, of course, us! 😀 Haatch was founded by ex-retailers who have lived and breathed the pain Intent aims to eradicate. Currently, the way e-commerce communicates with their customers is nothing short of inappropriate. Generic tools built solely for pushing people to checkout reduces store visitors to data points, so you easily forget that on the other side of the screen is a real human being. These solutions are designed for everyone, yet serve only the few. Introducing Made With Intent.... allowing eCommerce to move from this digital directness to something more personal by focusing on their customers and their intent. By predicting where people are in their purchase journey and treating them accordingly. 📈 🎉 --- #madewithintent #intent #seed #venturecapital #team

I have committed to invest in Tash Grossman at Slip's Seed round. Here's why. unbundled vc looks for: 1. Very strong founders 2. building differentiated products that matter 3. that can scale fast 4. with huge potential markets, 5. a plausible route to market 6. and great unit economics 1. Tash is a very strong founder. Very personable, great at sales and gives straightforward answers that always make sense. The combination is not so common. Often when people are good at sales it can cover flaws in the underlying answers. That either isn't the case here or she's even better at sales than I think. 2. Slip offers digital receipts. That does not sound exciting. Many people have tried this and failed. What they couldn’t do was super fast integration with high conversion rates for retailers. And there is a “why now” - sustainability-driven legislation is incoming because paper receipts are not recyclable. The offer has always been to drive loyalty and data-driven insights. Nobody has ever delivered on this until now. JD Sports just did a three-week trial before rolling out to 370 stores UK-wide. They did this because it mattered and it worked. The rollout is already exceeding expectations. 3. This is a digital proposition. Integration is fast. Once integrated, it’s easy to roll out more broadly. It can be scaled very quickly as is evidenced by JD. 4. Because the integration is with POS providers, there is little implementation difference anywhere in the world. There are a lot of large retailers worldwide. The market feels like a winner-takes-all play. There will be no need for a second provider. You can get lock-in by providing additional data insights. Once you have that, you have a moat. There is easily room for a venture scale outcome. 5. Tash has an insanely good network along with advisers with their own great networks. Tash being who she is, her network will grow fast. The first enterprise client is on board. Once other retailers see the positive impact and easy implementation, they will come to her. 6. This is a purely digital proposition. The gross margins are high and the unit economics are great. This is why I am investing. Let's see how it plays out. . #founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic Pitch and newsletter links in my bio and on my website.

The weird week of Startup Italy... Two days ago we were celebrating the further progress of Bending Spoons (announcing a new round of financing at a 2.5B valuation). Today we got the news of Everli being sold for a penny (yes it is called Fire Sale). In the world of Startups and Scaleups there are two rules: - celebrate anytime you can 'cause success is not a steady state. - be indulgent with failure 'cause failure is part of the game for the ones who try to innovate. That's the Italian reactions: - Re: Bending Spoon, rather than celebrating to have a petite version of a Big Tech, Italians started to debate about its unicorn or not-unicorn status. - Re: Everli my bet that is that we start to debate about the risk of doing startups (and the excessive valuation that company got in the past) and criticize the work done. In Italy we are clearly not that good at following rules. #startups #everli #bendingspoons Giovanni Iozzia Fabrizio Capobianco Alessandro Di Stefano Riccardo Luna Eleonora Chioda Tiziana Tripepi