Crafty commerce site Etsy just raised another $20 million in its fifth venture round (that would be the Series E). Index Ventures is the new investor leading the round, with partner Danny Rimer getting an observer’s seat on the board. (The board is made up of founder Rob Kalin, Caterina Fake, Accel partner Jim Breyer and Union Square Ventures partner Fred Wilson). Previous investors Accel and Hubert Burda Media put in some money as well in this round.
The round gives Etsy a pre-money valuation of just under $300 million, about triple the valuation it got during its last, $27 million round in January, 2008. Most of the shares sold—nearly $14 million of the $20 million—were secondary shares held by some of the early investors. But unlike other rounds we’ve seen lately, this wasn’t a liquidity event for founders. Kalin says he did not sell any shares, nor did any employees.
Etsy started turning a profit at the end of last year, just when Kalin took over as CEO again. Kalin projects revenues this year to be between $30 million and $50 million and expects the company to continue to be profitable. The company has 125 employees. He expects the total gross value of goods traded on the site to double this year to $400 million, and hopes to hit $1 billion next year.
Etsy is a e-Commerce website that focuses on handmade and vintage items, as well as art and craft supplies. The items include art, photography, clothing, jewelry, edibles, quilts, and toys. Etsy is modeled after open craft fairs that give sellers personal storefronts where they can list their goods. The company charges users a flat listing fee (of 20 cents per items), and takes a commission of 3.5% off all items sold. Since its launch in June 2005, the site...
Index Ventures is a leading venture capital firm specializing in investments in information technology and life sciences companies. The firm invests in seed, early and growth stage start-ups across US and Europe. Since its inception in 1996, Index Ventures has backed visionary entrepreneurs who have taken on incumbents and built seminal companies in a number of growth sectors including: open source software companies such as MySQL, Trolltech, Zend and Pentaho; broadband and VOIP companies such as Virata, Skype, FON and...
Robert Kalin is the founder and CEO of Etsy. Robert served as CEO from founding until August 2008. In December 2009, Kalin came back in as CEO. Befor founding Etsy, Robert was a woodworker and carpenter. He attended 5 colleges including the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, MIT and NYU before graduating with a BA in individualized study in 2004.
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