Heroes, a London-based startup founded by Italians, has cashed in another 200 million dollars round in venture debt in recent weeks. Heroes’ mission is acquiring and growing high-potential European SMEs that rely on Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon), the division of the global e-commerce giant that offers logistics and customer service to support independent brands active online, managing the entire order process on their behalf, from warehouse to delivery to after-sales assistance. The funding round was subscribed by Crayhill Capital Management (see the press release here), a private credit investor based in New York, which has just closed the fundraising of its second fund Crayhill Principal Strategies Fund II with an 820 million dollars committement( (see here the press release)
This is the second round raised by Heroes, after 65 million dollars one including both equity and debt raised last November 2020 (see here a previous article by BeBeez). That round was led by Fuel Ventures and the Franco-Italian venture capital fund 360 Capital Partners, flanked by other European and US investors including Upper90 and various business angels such as iMatt Robinson, co-founder of GoCardless and Nested, and Carlos Gonzalez-Cadenas, coo of GoCardless.
In addition to the acquisition of new customers, Heroes will use the proceeds of the second round to hire new professionals to add to the current 70 to be placed in offices throughout Europe. The company’s goal is to reach all those companies (including small and medium-sized ones) looking for preferential channels to internationalize their business.
Founded in 2020 by twin brothers Riccardo Bruni (former EQT Ventures and Merrill Lynch’s m & a team) and Alessio Bruni (former m & a to Perella Weinberg Partners, former general manager of Luno and former vice president of retail of Lazada), Heroes is the first company of its kind based in Europe and simulates the business model of the American unicorn Thrasio, specialized in turn in the acquisition and management of SMEs that work with Amazon FBA brands, especially in one or more European Amazon marketplaces.
Thrasio in turn grossed a total of 1.7 billion dollars in eight rounds, of which 1.35 billions this year alone. Last January, Thrasio actually raised 500 million dollars in venture debt from JPMorgan Chase Bank, Goldman Sachs Asset Management‘s Private Credit Group, RBC Capital Markets, Oaktree Capital Management‘s Strategic Credit Group, Bain Capital Credit, Barclays , BlackRock, BofA Securities, Credit Suisse Loan Funding, Monroe Capital, Morgan Stanley Private Credit and UBS Securities (see the press release here). It then cashed in a 750 million dollars Series C round from Advent International and Oaktree Capital Management funds in February (see the press release here) and another 100 million dollars Series C round last April. Previously, in April 2020, the startup had raised 35 million dollars in venture debt from Upper90 and other 75 millions in equity from Peak6, WTI and River Park Ventures (see the press release here). Also last year, in July, the startup took home a 260 millions Series C round led by Advent International (see the press release here). In April 2019 it had instead closed a seed round of 6.5 million dollars (see here Crunchbase) and in December of the same year another 20 million dollars series A round signed by Upper90 and Peak6 (see here the press release).
