Thursday, 25 September 2014

Rocket's Indian Firms expanding Globally

Rocket Internet is one of the world largest e-commerce venture capital firms. Samwer Brothers started it in 2007 in Germany. The founders gained visibility through successful investments in eBay, Groupon, Facebook, Jabong, LinkedIn, and Zynga. The company business model is to find successful internet ventures from other countries and replicate them in emerging markets.

Rocket Internet operates in more than 50 countries and has more than 75 ventures such as Zolando in Germany; Lamoda in Russia, Zalora in South East Asia, Iconic in Australia, global food delivery sites Foodpanda, and property listing sites Lamudi and Carmudi. In India, Rocket Internet operates Jabong and Printvenue. Rocket Internet wants to be world largest e-commerce platform outside the U.S and China. By the end of this year, Rocket Internet Group may close its initial public offering. It would be second e-commerce firm IPO this year, after Alibaba.

One of the Indian E-commerce firms Printvenue plans to start operations in Australia with a team of marketing, content, and sourcing. There is no competitive environment in Australia for the company. It will soon be seen in Asia-Pacific Region such as South East and Middle East too. Over the next four five years, Printvenue plans to venture into Europe, and Latin America. Printvenue is already operating in Singapore with a small team.

Earlier this month, German venture capital group decided to take online fashion retailer Jabong.com to a global platform by merging it with four other such businesses in Latin America, Russia, Middle East, South East Asia, and Australia. Jabong has also opened an office in London where a team of 15-20 people will design its private label. These steps of Rocket Internet taking portfolio companies global were always on its agenda and these are linked to upcoming IPO.


Its global online food-ordering firm, Foodpanda is continuously expanding into developing markets. Foodpanda is present in more than 45 countries across Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Latin America. After Jack Ma Alibaba, soon people will see Billionaires from Germany and Rocket Internet world largest e-commerce venture capitalist firm.

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