eCommerce Veterans Get $150 Million For Firm That Buys Digital-First Businesses

Two former Zulily executives have landed more than $150 million to fuel Cap Hill Brands, which plans to buy profitable, “digitally native” eCommerce consumer brands.

According to a press release, Cap Hill raised the capital via a mix of debt (from Victory Park Capital) and equity (from Maveron and Version One).

“The company is led by two of the best eCommerce operators and entrepreneurs,” Version One said. The release added that Kevin Saliba and Jason LeeKeenan worked together at Zulily, “one of the original eCommerce success stories.” The two are Cap Hill’s co-founders and co-CEOs.

Cap Hill said it “combines the investment capital of a private equity firm with the deep operational experience of a startup accelerator.”

For its part, Zulily is an unusual online retailer that offers sale items that are usually available for 72 hours.

“Over the past decade, we have seen an explosion of digitally native consumer brands built on top of Amazon Marketplace, Walmart, Shopify and other platforms,” the release said. However, “some of these entrepreneurs feel that they’ve taken the business as far as they can and want to find the right steward to take it to the next level.”

The release added that “Cap Hill will have already closed on about 10 acquisitions by the end of this month … from educational products (Merka), and bean bags and fairy wings (Butterfly Craze), to a wearable sprayer-scrubber that makes it easy to clean a dog in the shower (Aquapaw).”

Saliba told GeekWire that he and LeeKennan “want to continue at a pretty fast pace.” To date, each of the acquired companies has been purchased for less than $10 million.

PYMNTS research shows that consumers are likely to maintain some level of the digital-first shopping habits that the COVID-19 pandemic triggered. Mapping Consumers’ Return to the Physical World: Why Digital-First Behaviors Are Here to Stay, the latest installment of a PYMNTS research series, examines how the vaccine rollouts are changing consumers’ outlook on the pandemic.