Jet.com Raises $140 Million to take on Amazon

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Forbes did an article on Jet.com and them raising $140million for the launch of their ecommerce website. The company has been touted as a rival to Amazon. Jet.com founder Marc Lore knows a thing or two about Amazon as he founded Quidsi the company which Lore sold to Amazon for $550 million.

From a domaining standpoint, legendary Canadian Garry Chernoff was the owner of Jet.com for many years and sold the domain to the company.

From the article:

Jet.com has yet to sell anything, but has already raised hundreds of millions on the idea that its CEO and founder Marc Lore can reinvent retail once again.

On Wednesday, the Montclair, N.J.-based e-commerce startup announced it had obtained $140 million in a round led by Bain Capital. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, which pegged the companies valuation to be nearly $600 million according to sources. The investment brings Jet’s total venture funding to about $220 million after it raised $55 million in July and about $25 million of debt financing in September.

Though the company has yet to launch, it has gained a large amount of attention, namely due to the previous success of Lore, who created Quidsi and sold it to Amazon.com AMZN +0.56% in 2010 for $550 million. Quidsi operated sites like Diapers.com, which competed fiercely with the Seattle online retailer before succumbing to competition and a subsequent acquisition.

Read the full article on Forbes

Comments

  1. todd says

    “The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, which pegged the companies valuation to be nearly $600 million according to sources. ”

    How in the world is a company valued at 600 million just because they have a great domain and an idea.

    • london555 says

      The same reason they value Uber.com at $40billion -this guy is the real deal-$600 will prove tp be low in the future. I got in touch with company in reference to developing a .com domain I own aimed at SinglesDay in China-the day Alibaba did $9billion in one day. Jet.com was back to me literally in 5 minutes and are considering it now. Will they do it-who knows but that type of service/reaction is why they will far exceed a $600 valuation.

      • h4ck3r says

        “The same reason they value Uber.com at $40billion”

        I’m all ears. A phone app is worth $40 billion because?

        • london555 says

          LOL I didn’t say I agree with it-please don’t shoot the messenger re UBER. I’m just stating the facts and the fact is that Wall St, will give Jet.com a minimum valuation of 20 times forward revenues. The Street has a very short memory re The Globe.com going up 900% on it’s IPO day in 2000 (or whenever it was) etc. but here’s the difference. Jet.com is a real company with real potential- very long term potential. As an investor I’d rather own Jet.com stock options right now than Uber. The one thing i’d respectfully say re ” A phone app worth $40 billion because” is that’s Uber is no longer just a “phone app” it’s now an international company that it’s clients love (and of course some cites don’t).