Australia’s number one online retailing group, CatchOfTheDay, which operates leading e-commerce sites CatchOfTheDay.com.au and Scoopon.com.au, has closed an investment for a minority stake in the company from New York-based Tiger Global Management and a group of leading Australian businessmen including James Packer’s Consolidated Press Holdings (CPH), Andrew Bassat, co-founder and CEO of Seek and Glenn Poswell founder of Gannet Capital.
The founders of CatchOfTheDay, Gabby and Hezi Leibovich, will retain a controlling stake in the group businesses, with Lee Fixel from Tiger Global and Jason Lenga from Seek joining the board.
The funds will fuel the e-commerce group’s continued leadership in the high growth daily deals sector, and support the group’s expansion into new locations with a focus on more localized deals, the introduction of specialized offerings and continued investment in technology – including mobile applications – to meet the future needs of consumers.
Lee Fixel, managing director of Tiger Global said, “What was immediately apparent when we started discussions with the Leibovich brothers was their deep understanding of the space and what was required to build a globally competitive e-commerce group – particularly the importance of building strong supplier and procurement networks and investment in technology to remain innovative and agile.”
James Packer shares this view, adding: “Unlike many other players in the market, the team’s proven experience in building profitable e-commerce businesses, means they have the skills, supplier networks and economies of scale to keep growing and leading the market. We are excited to align ourselves with the market leader in the online daily deals sector in Australia.”
CatchOfTheDay and Scoopon operate in the high growth daily deals sector, part of the broader global online retail market. Daily deals sites are based on offering one highly discounted deal (product and services) a day to customers. Gabby and Hezi Leibovich are pioneers in the Australian daily deal sector, launching CatchOfTheDay.com.au five years ago in 2006 and successfully expanding their business with the launch of group buying site Scoopon.com.au in 2010.
Gabby Leibovich says despite the growth in the daily deals sector, Australia’s online retailing industry is still in its infancy when compared to other markets, which is one reason why they considered investment from international partners.
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“It is still early days in Australia when it comes to online retail and to support our next phase of growth we were open to overseas investors who could share a different perspective into the online retail market, as well as bring new skills, advice and contacts to further our growth and expansion.
“The investment consortium of Tiger Global, CPH, Andrew Bassat and Glenn Poswell possess a true passion for the internet. Through our relationships with them we are able to access a wealth of advice, experience, and extensive contacts – both local and international – to propel our business forward. We look forward to working with them,” said Leibovich.
KPMG Corporate Finance and Arnold Bloch Leibler acted as advisers to the owners of CatchOfTheDay and Scoopon.
The Scoopon team will be featured on the front cover of Dynamic Business’ July 2011 issue. Look out for it!
