KupiVip’s CEO Oskar Hartmann confirms plans to hold an IPO in New York “within two years,” Reuters reported yesterday. “We have already made quite good progress and [an IPO] is likely. We need to grow to reach the size [of business] that allows us to do a round of $120 million or more,” Hartmann told reporters.
Launched in October 2008, KupiVip has successfully brought to Russia the concept of online flash sales, which such players as Vente-Privee.com and Gilt.com had made popular in the West years before.
The site sells name brand fashion at deep discounts, up to 70% off, targeting middle class Russians, both men and women, in “every region, every city.” Offers include products from such designers as Dolce & Gabbana and Roberto Cavalli, global sportswear brands as well as Russian labels. KupiVip works directly with 1,300 suppliers. KupiVip hosts up to 20 private, online flash sales each day. Members get daily email notifications about new flash sales.
KupiVip’s revenues for 2011 have not been disclosed. The Russian edition of Forbes magazine estimated them at $160 million, but a source in the industry told East-West Digital News they may not have reached $100 million.
Hartmann says its business is “as profitable as we want to be.” He has set itself the goal of generating $1 billion in sales annually within the next four years – a figure that may look modest by international standards, but that drives KupiVip’s ambition to contend for leadership on the Russian e-commerce scene.
Since its foundation, KupiVip has attracted total investments of over $86 million from leading Russian and foreign investors. In the spring of 2011, the company completed a record $55 million Series C funding deal.
Three Russian Internet companies have gone public so far: Mail.ru Group on the London stock-exchange, in October 2010; Yandex on the NASDAQ, in May of last year; and Utinet.ru, an online retailer of consumer electronics retailer Utinet.ru, which began trading in Moscow last July.
- RUSSIAN E-COMMERCE REPORT 2012 – The total volume of Russian online retail reached 310 billion rubles, a little more than $10 billion, in 2011, up 25% from the previous year. EWDN’s research study of Russian e-commerce will be available soon. It contains case studies of tenmajor Russian online retailers, including KupiVip, and an analysis of their M&A and IPO perspectives. To receive free insights or to order the full version, please contact us at [email protected].
