Amazon entrepreneurs flip the script, form FBA aggregator Go North, raise €7.5 million

Gothenburg, Sweden-based Go North has raised €7.5  million in a seed round. Entering an already crowded marketplace, the fulfilled-by-Amazon aggregator says that it’s differentiated by the fact that its founders don’t have “traditional M&A backgrounds”, but rather, hail from the Amazon entrepreneur space themselves, a factor they say can make all the difference.

When you work a newsdesk as busy as the one at Tech.eu, whether you want to or not, there are certain trends you start to pick up on. Right next to get-it-to-my-door-before-I-press-send groceries, revenue-based financing, and Web3-well, basically, take your pick, just make sure to include enough buzz words, the fulfilled-by-amazon aggregator space is another “hot” space that seems to hit the wire on a semi-regular basis.

However, in the case of Go North, there is an outlier at work here.

Whereas a number of these FBA players all have some fairly heavy financial backgrounds filling the pool, the sellers from Sweden are just claiming none of the above, but leaning on their “former Amazon marketplace entrepreneurs” leg.

But that’s not to say they’re green in any sense of the word. Just one look at CEO Johan Hallenby’s background, for example, includes an Executive MBA comprised in parts from the University of Gothenburg, the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, and Zhejiang University, and a fairly lengthy commerce history, the brand might be on to something.

"As FBA entrepreneurs, we got quite a negative impression of the aggregators. We heard stories about intentionally complicated legal work, and even buyers operating brands at a loss to avoid payouts. It was a system that had to change. So, we decided to change it—and start an aggregator by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs," explained Hallenby.

Likewise, Go North is by no means operating in the dark, having grown the team to nearly 20 staff since November 2021, a number of key hires include individuals with backgrounds in e-commerce (naturally), and M&A and IPO activities.

Go North’s €7.5  million seed round was led by eEquity and saw a number of angel investors including Alexander Hars (System OK + Let's Deal), Ludwig Mattsson (Gavia group), Victor Hielte (Ernstrom Group), Caroline Ingeborn (Leap & Toca Boca), Peter Lindholm (Frontier Car Group), Lena Apler (Collector Bank), Magnus Emilson (NA-KD & Ess Group) William & Kim Olsson (Stena + Sessan) Gustav Eriksson (Stena + Formica), Sujay Tyle (Merama), and Karin Hallin (Partners Group) all participating.

"Go North is about more than just acquiring Amazon brands. It's about providing resources to entrepreneurs. By selling their Amazon FBA brand to Go North, they get the funding to do what's next. To go further, to go faster. We're building an ecosystem of e-commerce entrepreneurs, believing that we can change the industry for the better, together," concluded Hallenby.