Sustainability and design driven Nordic marketplace aggregator rakes in $50 million funding

When it comes to product development and design, the Nordic countries excel. However, the skill of commercialising innovations and exporting lags behind the rest of the world. The consumer brand VC environment is almost non-existent in the Nordics. 

Aiming to alter this, London and Helsinki-based e-commerce aggregator eBrands has raised $30 million to make Nordic players go global.

The majority of the financing comes from Varma Pension Fund, family-offices Rettig and Veikko Laine in addition to Icebreaker.vc and other private investors. The extra cash will help the company to develop its current portfolio and acquire new Northern European businesses with the aim of taking them global.

Founded in 2020, the Finnish brand aggregator in the Nordics buys already successful Nordic e-commerce brands and sells them internationally. Its business acquisitions focus on sustainability, wellness, sports and lifestyle products.

Erika Ottela, co-founder and COO of eBrands said: “We aim to raise the bar on sustainability in online e-commerce sales. Many existing platforms have a bad reputation when it comes to creating waste but global searches on sustainable products have increased over 70% in the last few years. In addition to actions on our own brands, we have made it our mission to encourage every marketplace seller to start implementing sustainability actions, no matter how small they may seem.”

The products of one of the brands in its current kitty, MioEco, are manufactured purely by solar power.

Jonne Välilä, co-founder and growth director of eBrands, added: “This recent round of funding will help expand the acquired businesses to new marketplaces and, combined with online sales expertise, will help in our rapid growth.”

Robin Bade, co-founder and CEO of eBrands, concluded: “eBrands has positioned itself as an accelerator of Nordic innovation, acquiring and growing brands that have a Nordic heritage or adhere to the typical Nordic values, such as products that are functional, minimalistic, natural and sustainable. We offer entrepreneurs a new model, giving them the ability to grow their business with us and claim the benefits of our joint efforts.”