Rocket Internet goes public: The next stage – Tagesspiegel

Rocket Internet goes public: The next stage – Tagesspiegel

18:45 clock Corinna Visser and Veronika Csizi

Later this year, want to put the Samwer brothers Rocket shares for 750 million euros in the market. Aktionaersschuetzer sees high risks.

It is so far: Rocket Internet is heading for the stock market. This is not only a crucial step for the Berlin start-up factory, which is also an important test for the entire start-up scene in the city. For if the IPOs of Rocket and also the online fashion retailer Zalando be a success, more investors may be interested for the local companies – and there could be more much-needed capital to flow into the city

How does Rocket Internet. ?

Rocket has professionalized the reasons of Internet companies. This is where start-ups churning. Rocket provides the business models that are the necessary start-up capital and then finds a young ambitious team that implements the models. Besides Rocket investigating among other investors, who participate with capital. When the new organization grows, more investors are added and Rocket gets off gradually. As with the online fashion retailer Zalando, no longer holds any shares in the Rocket. Overall, Rocket collected in the past year, two billion euros from investors for its start-ups a.

What are the start-ups?

The content of Rocket focuses on electronic commerce (Mode , furniture), marketplaces (cleaners, accommodation services) and most recently on financial services (loans online, cashless payment). Geographically, Rocket focuses on Europe and fast-growing economies such as Latin America, Southeast Asia, India and Africa. So the company Zalora is a kind Zalando for Asia and Dafiti uses the concept to South America. It is often the Rocket-founders Oliver, Marc and Alexander Samwer accused to steal successful ideas and easy-to-copy business models. The company itself puts it: “Rocket uses its unique operational platform to analyze online consumer trends to identify best Internet business models and apply them to underserved or untapped markets.” According to information from more than 20,000 people working in 100 countries for Rocket, in Berlin there are about 300th

What is the IPO planned?

Officially, the company wants to save 750 million euros in the placement. That would be 15 percent of the capital – subordinated to a target rating of five billion euros for the entire company. No other Berlin-based company is currently valued on the stock market nearly as high. For comparison: The Lufthansa has a market capitalization of 6.2 billion euros. The 750 million euro from the proceeds will come from a capital increase, the existing shareholders will sell any shares on issue. News

is Global Founders, the investment company of the Samwer brothers, the largest shareholder. What Rocket before?

The company plans to put the money in further growth. “We are convinced that the Internet will change people’s lives fundamentally, especially in emerging markets,” says Oliver Samwer. “The IPO is the next logical step towards our stated goal of becoming the world’s leading Internet platform outside the United States and China.” For a company like Rocket, which does not reinvent the world, it makes no sense, in the United States or China to be active, where already strong competitors are successful with the same business models go. But as no other company is Rocket able to establish these business models in new markets. The question is, how often it can still repeat. Rockets model will only work with “basic goods and basic services” for a large number of customers. But even in large markets there is only room for a limited number of Amazon or Zalandos.