47% increase in SaaS deals, trends in e-commerce roll-ups, investor dollars pour into cybersecurity, predictions become reality & a Google boss warning
Hi there, 👋 Trawling through the news is a fascinating journey. In our endeavor to bring you all that is new in investing, tech and startups, we often come across stories about niche ideas and investments that fly under the radar. For example, programming robots to put jackets on people is harder than it looks. The promise of this technology is clear: Helping people with mobility issues perform tasks that many of us take for granted. And how about a state-approved Islamic dating app to facilitate "lasting and informed marriage?" Iran has just unveiled Hamdam. According to Hamdam’s website, users of the app have to take a psychology test, and successful matches will be accompanied by a consultant for the first four years of marriage. What else did we find?
Latest website acquisition data and market expectations
Trends in Amazon e-commerce roll-ups
The cybersecurity areas that interest investors
Plus it's been a while since we featured any productivity tools. Today, you'll see one way to tame your inbox and another (potentially disturbing) way to measure your daily progress. Want more? That's why the snippets section exists. As always, thanks for being here. P.S. How did you do with the 'Human vs. AI' quiz in Monday's newsletter? Did anyone beat 17 correct answers?
Roll Up, Roll Up
The Amazon roll-up play continues to be a strong e-commerce trend. Elevate Brands, another startup that acquires and runs third-party Amazon merchants, has picked up $250 million in funding to continue investing in its technology, as well as to buy up more small businesses. This story should feel familiar as we’ve seen comparable pieces of news from other groups, like Thrasio and The Razor Group. According to TechCrunch, Elevate is already profitable, with 25 brands currently in its stable. It’s estimated there are some 5 million third-party sellers on Amazon today, with some 1 million sellers joining the platform in 2020 alone. Elevate predicts that the Amazon marketplace, currently valued at $300 billion, will double in the next five years. CEO and co-founder Ryan Gnesin emphasised their difference, stating: "We began as third-party merchants and so we truly relate to them. We didn’t just wake up and start buying Amazon businesses. This is what we are in our core, operators first. Anyone can buy a business, but the ones who can grow them are the most successful. That is our long-term view." Hot on the heels of Elevate's funding news, was a big acquisition made by Perch. The company has acquired Web Deals Direct, an Amazon seller that owns 30 brands of its own (pulling in $80 million in revenue annually) and also operates its own warehouse. This move brings Perch a number of new brands, along with operations infrastructure to enhance its position in the race to roll up smaller FBA merchants. It also underscores an interesting shift toward a consolidation of the consolidators themselves. The idea of buying up smaller Amazon retailers is such a potentially lucrative wager that gazillions of dollars are flooding the zone. How many winners we will see is the next question.
Latest Website Acquisition Numbers
It's always interesting when companies like Empire Flippers and FE International release their market reports. We get to dig into the trends and compare the data with what we think we know. FE International just released their mid-year report which highlights an increase in the total sale value and volume across the verticals in which they operate. They witnessed strong demand for SaaS, e-commerce and content businesses and multiples grew across the board. For example, the average value of e-commerce businesses grew by 30.4% and content businesses grew by 27.3%. We've got more of the numbers and detail for you in this thread.
Work On What Matters
We haven't featured a productivity app in months. And (depending on how you view time) this tool could be either terrifying or energizing. Progress Bar for Windows adds two circular meters to your taskbar. These represent the amount of time left in the current day and year. It’s a novel way to measure your daily progress and to keep you on track with your tasks. If you feel like your time-management skills are slipping or you catch yourself wasting time on things that don't matter, then Progress Bar will jolt you out of your reverie. $5 here. (Only supported on Windows 10)
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Predictions Become Reality
Back in 2016, the World Economic Forum released a Facebook video with eight predictions it had for the world in 2030. "You'll own nothing. And you'll be happy," it says. "Whatever you want, you'll rent. And it'll be delivered by drone...." Now, a thought-provoking new piece by Gizmodo's consumer tech reporter argues that: "By 2030, technology will have advanced to the point that even the idea of owning objects might be obsolete" Top quote: "The reality is when you buy a device that requires proprietary software to run, you don’t own it. The money you hand over is an entry fee, nothing more."
👉 Domain Snack
Check Investment Viability Elliot Silver suggests that domain investors should use similar strategies to those applied by hedge fund managers and large investors. Silver says that people should understand the market before investing thousands of dollars in speculative domain names. His recent post outlines how he would evaluate the investment viability for a type of domain name he was unsure about. This is important for non-.com domain names, but it could also be applied to non-blue chip .coms too. There are three takeaways from this article. There may be opportunities beyond the blue chip one word or 3 letter .com domain names. It’s easy to buy a domain name, but domain investing is not easy.
Random Tweet
The total value locked (TVL) in all DeFi protocols combined reached $144B in July 2021. As the figures show, DeFi’s TVL has increased by more than 15,556% in just one year.
Cybersecurity Smashes Records
We predicted this trend at the end of 2020. We're only halfway through the year and 2021 already has surpassed the record-breaking $7.8 billion raised by security companies last year. Sure, you might attribute some of this to the upsurge in global attacks by hackers targeting software flaws and weak IT infrastructure. The most recent high-profile attack saw IT remote management software maker Kaseya hit by a supply chain-style ransomware attack, which impacted as many as 1,500 businesses. We're also seeing a significant increase in companies' reliance on technology which is fueling strong growth in cybersecurity spending. To illustrate the above point, Microsoft has confirmed it’s buying RiskIQ, a San Francisco-based cybersecurity startup that provides threat intelligence and cloud-based software as a service for organizations. The price was not disclosed, but Bloomberg previously reported that it would be more than $500 million in cash. In other news, AttackIQ raised $44M for their international expansion. AttackIQ provides organizations with breach and attack simulation solutions. It’s a bit like having a punching match against yourself. For more on cybersecurity funding, this Crunchbase article covers the areas of interest to investors and changes in the overall investment philosophy in the sector.
Tame Your Email
Compulsive inbox checks don’t go well with focused attention. A University of California, Irvine study found that it takes people up to 23 minutes and 15 seconds to refocus after an interruption. Let us do the math for you: If you get distracted three times a day, you’re losing an hour of productive time. An hour! To protect your focus, try adding the Pause Gmail Extension. This extension effectively mutes your inbox by preventing new emails showing up in your inbox until you’re ready for them. Don't be one of those people who check their email every 6 minutes. Free on the Chrome Web Store.
Google Boss Warning
Google boss Sundar Pichai has warned that a free and open internet is under attack in countries around the world. He says many countries are restricting the flow of information, and the model is often taken for granted. Pichar is a low-profile figure who keeps himself largely to himself. The Google staff who watched his interview said that they learned a lot about him. The personal details he shared include that he doesn't eat meat, drives a Tesla, reveres Alan Turing, wishes he'd met Stephen Hawking, and is jealous of Jeff Bezos's space mission. Listen to Amol's interview with Sundar Pichai on BBC Sounds, or, in the UK, watch it on BBC iPlayer. Read the interview with Amol Rajan on BBC news.
✅ Snippets to Send You on Your Way
🔷 To the future: @Pay is a first-of-its-kind, global decentralized finance (DeFi) platform that integrates Buy Now Pay Later, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain/smart contract technology to offer comprehensive commerce solutions for shoppers, merchants and marketplaces. 🔷 Record startup investment: Investors have poured record sums into North American startups this year and a few firms are taking the lead. Crunchbase lists the most active investors, looks at deals in which they participated and highlights the rounds they led or co-led. See which dealmakers stand out. 🔷 Competing in the hood: Citigroup Inc. will let U.S. retail customers bet on stocks without paying fees as the bank tries to expand its wealth business in the face of fierce competition from Silicon Valley ventures, discount brokerages and big-banking peers. No-fee trading debut. 🔷 Pay the tax: The IRS has clearly communicated that cryptocurrency assets are taxed when they are traded, but this is news to many of the investors who own cryptocurrencies. If you make a gain on a cryptocurrency trade, you will owe a capital gains tax. See more on the tax implications for crypto. 🔷 €2 billion: That's the amount of investment in Spanish startups over a 5 month period - with €282 million raised in June alone. You'll probably recognize the names of well-known startups like Glovo, but what about Heura and Smileat? If you're interested in the thriving Spanish startup arena, then see who is getting noticed. 🔷 Venture downunder: We've been watching Dovetail since their involvement helped Afterpay grow into a global payments leader. Dovetail is currently raising a $10 million AUD (about $7.5 million USD) fund that will be invested in 15 of the most promising companies that have gone through its venture studio program. Check sizes ranging from $150,000 to $1 million AUD. More on Techcrunch.
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