The e-commerce start up ePetWorld GmbH (hundeland.de / katzenland.de), founded by the Munich-based incubator Venture Stars and targeting the pet market with a vertical strategy, reported a seven-digit Euro round of funding in April. Major investors include Point Nine Capital, Mountain Super Angel, the American VC Blumberg Capital and several business angels.
The funding, which came just two months after the launch of the website hundeland.de, is primarily intended to finance business growth and secure more shares in the German pet supply market. Alongside the financing therefore, a second vertical pillar was launched with katzenland.de, establishing a second foothold for growth. Both shops focus on selling food and accessories to their respective target groups. Cats and dogs comprise about 85% of the total EUR19 billion market for pet supplies in Europe.
ePetWorld, Munich-based like its incubator Venture Stars, was launched in January 2012 and can already claim considerable success. Six-figure monthly revenues have now been reached and experienced staff recruited around the founding team consisting of Denis Skorobogat and Lorenz Hartung. ePetWorld GmbH currently employs approximately 25 staff members.
Stefan Pfannmöller from Venture Stars: 'Right from day one, we were sure we could entice attractive investors thanks to this segment, the incubator setup and the experienced founding team. So we are delighted to have leading investors on board, who will support the long-term, sustainable success of ePetWorld.'
With Point Nine Capital and Mountain Super Angels, two nationally renowned VC business players were won. Pawel Chudzinski from Point Nine Capital: 'The appealing conditions and strong online growth mean this market segment appeals to professionally set-up start-ups. We are confident that the team possesses all the prerequisites to be successful under these circumstances.'
Mountain Super Angels are also convinced of the market growth opportunities for pet food and accessories. 'The management, product, market and participating investors leave us convinced we will cover the next successful e-commerce trend with ePetWorld ', said Volker Rofalski from Mountain Super Angel AG.
The American investor Blumberg Capital, which has recently made further investments in Europe and Germany, is further expanding its activities in the European e-commerce market by investing in ePetWorld. 'The great management and support of Venture Stars convinced us to invest in this growth market.'
ePetWorld currently operates the two stores www.hundeland.de and www.katzenland.de. This vertical strategy paves the way for ePetWorld to establish improved customer communication in online marketing, CRM and customer service. The founding team, consisting of Denis Skorobogat and Lorenz Hartung, who took over the general management after the launch of ePetWorld by Venture Stars, has set itself the task of achieving excellence, especially in customer relationship management, usability and performance-marketing.
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About Venture Stars
Venture Stars is a Munich-based incubator for Internet start-ups. Venture Stars founds and supports start-ups and invests in innovative online concepts; aiming to create market-leading companies. Venture Stars was founded in September 2011 by the former founders of 'Netzathleten Media' (Stefan Pfannmöller, Martin Junker, Florian Calmbach) and as well as ePetWorld GmbH, also counts the Berlin-based Privatesportsale GmbH (mysportbrands.de / mysportworld.de) and others in its portfolio.
About Mountain Super Angel AG
Mountain Super Angel AG (www.super-angel.ch) is a holding company headquartered in St. Gallen, Switzerland. The company sees itself as an 'institutional investor with a business angel-character'. It invests in technology-driven, high-growth markets – primarily in Germany. Capital is mainly invested in early-stage financing, restructuring and pre-IPO transactions.
About Point Nine Capital
Point Nine Capital – 'The Angel VC' – is an early-stage investor based in Berlin. Point Nine Capital was formed in June 2011 following a spin-off of the investment activities of Team Europe and the strengthening of the team by the Internet founder and angel investor Christoph Janz. The Fund has been active since late 2009 as the 'TEV fund' and holds investments in inFakt, Lieferheld, Madvertise, MisterSpex, myGengo, SponsorPay and ten or so other companies and start-ups in the areas of SaaS, lead generation, e-commerce and mobile. For more information: www.pointninecap.com.
About Blumberg Capital
Blumberg Capital is a venture capital fund, which works closely alongside innovative entrepreneurs and supports the successful establishment of new enterprises. Its headquarters are in San Francisco. Blumberg Capital has been involved in the financing of many successful companies, including HootSuite, Sonar, Meobile Spinach, DoubleVerify, CarWoo, Nutanix and CoverHound. www.blumbergcapital.com
About Denis Skorobogat
Denis Skorobogat (born in 1976) previously worked as e-commerce director responsible for Otto Leisure and Tourism (including Flug.de). Prior e-commerce positions included Scout24 and Triumph International Holding GmbH.
About Lorenz Hartung
Before Lorenz Hartung (born in 1979) joined ePetWorld he headed the executive MBA in Innovation & Business Creation at Technische Universität München (www.innovationprogram.de). Besides start up consulting and teaching entrepreneurship, he gained experience as co-founder and employee in diverse e-business start-ups and in the retail industry
Contact:
Nico Richter
Venture Manager
Venture Stars – founding great startups
Venture Stars GmbH, Schwanthalerstr. 22, D-80336 München
Phone: +49 89 21 89 02 28
n.richter@venture-stars.com
www.venture-stars.com