Raising $400 M in the first year of existence? This is the story of 4 companies in 2020 who grabbed a piece of $2.6 Bn investment pie. With 2 million third-party sellers on Amazon responsible for ⅔ of sales on its platform, the market is ripe for consolidation. The “John D. Rockefellers” of the Amazon black gold mean business and are buying and building Amazon sellers left, right, and center.

We also discuss the timeless quest to live longer from alchemy to ‘ammortality’ with the industry poised to grow to $0.5 Tn. Wise is giving away stock to their most loyal users pre IPO, robots are driving around Estonian countryside roads (presumably to bring you food from ghost kitchens, hint see Ep 02) and Apple finally decides to go into paid original podcasting

Things you will learn from listening to this episode:

What is a “rollup company”?
How buying up sellers on Amazon works?
Who are the biggest/ most visible players in the industry?
What value do aggregator companies bring to the Amazon sellers?
What kind of investors are funding the industry?
Why are investors backing these companies?
Is this business model scalable?
What are the benefits for consumers?
What are the inherent risks in the business model?
Some extreme scenarios of how this industry might be upended
Can you (as a private investor) participate?
What is “ammortality” and the emerging industry of life longevity enhancement?
Wise giving away shares - good PR or long-term trend in tech?

Highlights of the week

Estonian AI&robotics startup Cleveron is cleared to use their fully autonomous delivery robots on all public roads in Estonia - the first company in Europe to get such nation-wide public streets green light
Apple will introduce a subscription fee on the Apple podcasts app opening up questions on the balance of power in the podcast media industry

Find out more on https://www.pursuitofscrappiness.co/

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#8 - The $2.6 Bn gold rush you never heard of - Amazon rollup companies. $0.5 Tn concept of ‘ammortality’ and Wise pays back to its users while Apple asks for more