More than ever, cloning is paying off for German entrepreneurs and their investors. But what would the German clone culture be without the US startups who have the cash and the willingness to shop around in Germany?
Fab.com took over Casacanda a few days ago and renamed the site to Fab.de:
"We did a study of the German market in October and November and went through a decision process of whether to build or acquire.
In early December we took a trip to Berlin and met with a few potential partners to explore launching Fab in Germany. Of all the teams and people we met with in Berlin, we were far and away most impressed with the founders and team at Casacanda.
The more Bradford and I met with them the more we became convinced that the best way to launch Fab in Germany was with them."
More information to be found in the Fab.com blog ("Fab Acquires Casacanda").
Casacanda comes from Springstar, a German clone factory started by Klaus Hommels, Oliver Jung and Harish Bahl. The incubator has already started up and sold numerous private shopping clubs and Groupon-like clones. Apparently Fast Lane Ventures, the Russian arm of the Otto Group’s eVenture Capital Partners also has a stake in Casacanda (German link).
The competition for “German Clone Champion 2012” has been kicked off. Clone champions of 2010 were the Samwer brothers who sold Citydeal to Groupon for shares worth $126 million. Champions for 2011 were the Heilemann brothers who were able to sell DailyDeal to Google Offers for $114 million.
Venture Village reported that the acquisition has valued Casacanda, with their 250,000 members, at $10 million. Fab.com was speculated to be valued at $200 million as of their last $40 million financing round.
EU-Startups makes a good point in their blog ("Fab acquires Casacanda to beat the Samwers").
Related posts:
- Fab.com and the Latest Out of Germany’s Clone Factories
- The Oryx Project: Has Otto been recruiting the Samwer-Crew?
- Extras: Fab.com, Plum District, Groupon, Zappos, Marka VIP
- Springstar: Jung/Hommels bündeln ihre Beteiligungen in Berlin (German)
- Google Offers: DailyDeal Goes to Google Instead of LivingSocial
- Groupon Takes Over Germany’s CityDeal
Originally posted in German by Jochen Krisch, adapted for excitingcommerce.com by Jason Soo.
Comments