40. Thrasio (2024)

Building a consumer products giant inside Amazon is now a big business for many "aggregators" as they are known – Thrasio the biggest among them.

Thrasio likes to say it created the Amazon aggregator space, though it has plenty of competitors, including Perch, Berlin Brands Group, Heyday and Branded, all of which buy fast-selling products and storefronts on Amazon and use expertise in product, logistics, and data science to scale the businesses globally.

There are 98 aggregators on Amazon that have raised $15 billion in capital, according to Marketplace Pulse, with Thrasio leading the way at $3.4 billion. Fifty-five have raised at least $100 million. The idea of brands born on Amazon becoming big public companies is already happening, with Amazon-native consumer tech company Anker going public back in 2020 and today valued at $24 billion.

Thrasio describes itself as a "next-gen consumer packaged goods company" using a data-driven approach which analyzes Amazon rankings, ratings, and reviews to identify and acquire breakout brands. It now has over $1 billion in revenue across more than 200 brands and it is growing globally, expanding last year across Europe, China, Japan, and most recently, India. Thrasio doubled its rate of acquisitions in 2021 when it raised $1 billion in financing.

It is also taken some steps to be a little more like Amazon itself, adding its own warehousing for the first time for product fulfillment. And it has made a parallel move into bricks-and-mortar retail as it seeks to evolve from its roots as an Amazon aggregator to a global omnichannel consumer-facing company.

The growth hasn't come without some hiccups. Reported plans to pursue a SPAC last year were scrapped amid complicated financial audits across its hundreds of brands, and its C-suite has seen significant turnover, with CFO Bill Wafford leaving Thrasio in July after a brief tenure and co-founder Josh Silberstein resigning from his role as co-CEO late last year.

The company told CNBC in October its focus remains on growth whether public or private.

"We're growing our business amazingly well privately and that's exactly what we're going to continue to do," said Thrasio president Daniel Boockvar.

But that growth may be occurring at a more deliberate pace going forward. Earlier this month, the company's other co-founder Carlos Cashman left the CEO post (he remains on the board) as Thrasio brought in former Airbnb and Amazon Prime executive Greg Greeley to run the company, and it announced layoffs.

"Now, as we assess our strategy for the road ahead, we need to take the time to properly absorb and grow the businesses we have acquired, make sure we have rigorous processes and controls, and then look to re-scale our team in the optimal areas for growth," Boockvar and Cashman stated in a memo announcing the layoffs, which was obtained by TechCrunch.

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