After raising $100 million, Russia’s Amazon (OZON) acquires Russia’s Zappos (Sapato)

OZON, often dubbed the ‘Amazon of Russia’, has acquired 100% of Sapato.ru, often dubbed the ‘Zappos of Russia’. I hope I don’t really need to remind you that Amazon acquired Zappos back in 2009.

The acquisition of the online shoe and accessories retailer, which had been whispered about for the past few days after e-commerce giant OZON was given the go-ahead for the deal by the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of the Russian Federation, was confirmed by early Sapato.ru investor Fast Lane Ventures in a press release issued earlier this morning. Sadly, financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

OZON has the cash to make this kind of acquisition, after raising $100 million last September, and the deal creates an enormous Russian Internet retail powerhouse that will be hard to match.
Sapato.ru was launched about 18 months ago, by Fast Lane Ventures, a Moscow-based Internet business incubator and investor. This deal marks Fast Lane Ventures’ first exit.
In a press statement, Fast Lane Ventures CEO Marina Treshchova points out that its portfolio of Web companies has grown to 15 since the company was founded in June 2010 and has attracted more than $60 million in investments.

According to the press release, Sapato.ru welcomes 2.5 million visitors per month, currently offering more than 90,000 pairs of women’s, men’s and children’s shoes (and bags) from more than 200 brands.

Founded in 1998, OZON sells books, DVDs, music, games, antiques tickets and other goods online. Its main shareholders include Index Ventures, ru-Net and Baring Vostok Private Equity Fund.
According to CrunchBase, Sapato.ru raised roughly $20 million in funding, including $12 million from a round led by Intel Capital back in June 2011. Other Sapato investors include German Otto Group-backed eVenture Capital Partners and Kinnevik.


Source: Techcrunch