Flippa lands $11M in fresh funding as they solidify their position as the investment bank for the 99%

Flippa

Flippa, the go-to marketplace for buying and selling online businesses had some pretty good news to kick off this week as they announced an $11M funding round. I was actually drinking my morning coffee reading TechCrunch when I saw the article, and my first thought was – let me email Blake (the CEO) and see if I can get a little exclusive quote for an article.

Blake said yes so here’s a little something you can’t read anywhere else 🕺

blake-flippa
“We are on a mission. Flippa’s platform will soon have everything you need to buy or sell. We will power the exit. We will empower ownership. It’s the investment bank for the 99%. We’ll build on our intelligent valuations engine, continue to improve our matching algorithm but more than that, we will add an incredibly rich layer of insights, data verification and the end-to-end services making it the most comprehensive deal platform globally.”Blake Hutchinson, CEO – Flippa

So now let’s talk more about Flippa and my two cents on what this funding means for their business. First, $11M is no small sum, there’s a lot a company can do with this, especially when it’s a business that has a completed and scaled product with product market fit.

When companies raise $10M they’re usually in one of two situations – building a product and trying to keep the wheels on while they do, or scaling a fully finished product, doubling down on something that’s working. IMO, Flippa is in the second camp which means the next 12-18 months should be pretty exciting for the company.

At the end of the day I think (as do many VCs) that the success of a company has more to do with the people running the company than anything else, and well – Flippa has some absolute all stars at the helm.

If you don’t know much about the people behind Flippa, let me take a minute to share a bit more. The co-founders of Flippa, Mark Harbottle and Matt Mickiewicz founded 99Designs, which sold to VistaPrint after raising over $45M from investors like Accel (early Facebook investor) and is now preparing for an IPO. Blake Hutchinson, the CEO was head of Strategic Partnerships for accounting powerhouse Xero before he took on the role of GM & CRO for Luxury Escapes, which became the fastest growing company in Australia while he was there.

With a seasoned team and a fresh $11M capital now ready to deploy, I think we’re all going to be hearing about Flippa lot more. I really like how Blake describes the company:

He considers Flippa to be “the investment bank for the 99%,” of small businesses, providing an end-to end platform that includes a proprietary valuation product for businesses — processing over 4,000 valuations each month — and a matching algorithm to connect with qualified buyers.

Business owners can sell their companies directly through the platform and have the option to bring in a business broker or advisor. The company also offers due diligence and acquisition financing from Thrasio-owned Yardline Capital and a new service called Flippa Legal.

“Our strategy is verification at the source, i.e. data,” Hutchison said. “Users can currently connect to Stripe, QuickBooks Online, WooCommerce, Google Analytics and Admob for apps, which means they can expose their online business performance with one-click, and buyers can seamlessly assess financial and operational performance.”(Source – TechCrunch)

Congrats to the whole Flippa team, this is a big week and I know the best is yet to come! 🎉

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton