Amazon buys UK retail technology firm Veeqo
Amazon has acquired Veeqo, a Swansea, UK-based company that offers inventory and fulfilment tools for e-commerce sellers.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
It builds on Amazon’s acquisition of Selz last year, which set tongues wagging about the former competing more directly with Shopify in providing e-commerce services regardless of whether sales take place on Amazon.com or elsewhere.
“We’re excited Veeqo has joined Amazon. Veeqo is an innovative company that helps sellers manage their multi-channel business and provides an outstanding experience to shoppers,” an Amazon spokesperson said.
“We plan to continue investing in new features and improvements to help Veeqo serve sellers globally from its home in Wales, facilitate growth for sellers’ multi-channel businesses, and enhance the experience of their customers.”
In a blog post Richard Bolton of Octopus Ventures, which led a £3.3 million Veeqo equity round in March 2019, said: “It’s been a busy couple years for Veeqo due to the pandemic induced e-commerce boom.”
He added: “However, no matter how good a product is, you still need to get your sales strategy right.”
“We supported Veeqo as it developed a product led approach, by expanding its free trial offering and focusing on attracting the small online retailers it knows best. It proved to be the right call.”
“The lesson here is twofold. First, pick an investor with a long-term outlook, which is willing to back the management in bold decisions.”
“And second, don’t overlook the value of an excellent product. Veeqo’s success with its sales strategy was only made possible because its product was so good.”
Martin Fincham, who was appointed Chair of Veeqo following its 2019 investment, said in a Linkedin post:“Our plan was to raise a Series B round in late 2021 and grow the company past £10 million plus annual recurring revenues for a hopeful £100 million plus exit valuation.”
“We felt that hitting these milestones would be of note to entrepreneurs and investors alike, thereby shining a spotlight on Swansea.”
"Little did we know that the mighty Amazon would make an offer that we couldn’t refuse and ‘little ol’ Veeqo would find itself running in the engine room of the world’s largest online retailer.”
"Amazon has an admirable track record of investing locally after such an acquisition, so I sincerely hope that, in a few years, when driving past Swansea Bay on the M4 motorway, I will be blinded by the sun glinting off the windows of Amazon Tower housing 1,000 plus Veeqo employees.”
