Australia’s largest online book retailer Booktopia is seeking growth capital and they are raising the funding via an equity crowdfunding offer on Equitise. This is the first time Booktopia is pursuing outside capital.
Launched in 2004, Booktotopia is an e-commerce site that sells at least one book every 6.1 seconds. The company claims 5.2 million customers in Australia and an additional market of 1.8 million customers in New Zealand. During the fiscal year that ended in June 2018, Booktopia shipped 4.7 million items equaling 18,000 items per day.
Booktopia’s revenue has gone from just $9.4 million to $114 million since platform launch representing an annual growth rate of 31.9%.
The deal terms are open to anyone. A per share price offer is $1 share with a $250 minimum. Booktopia is looking to raise a minimum amount of $3 million with a capt at $10 million. Post-money valuation at the minimum raise level is pegged at $116.5 million.
Following the Amazon Model
Remember Amazon? It was born a bookseller and morphed into something far grander. Is Booktopia pursuing a similar path? You can read all about the offer here. The funds raised will be used to drive the top line and bottom line growth. This is really a distribution/customer service play.
It would be interesting to know if Booktopia spoke to VCs first before going retail. Clearly, there are benefits for a consumer-facing business to accept smaller investors as they are then more committed to use and promote the business.
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