- Venture capital investment in marketplaces is shifting to other business models like SaaS or hybrid models
- Vertical marketplaces attracted 90% of the funding over the last three years
- B2B marketplaces attracted an all-time-high 20% share of the funding going to marketplaces
- Supercharged marketplaces are showing considerable growth as they are better equipped to meet the diverse needs of users
Barcelona, 15 February 2024 – Adevinta Ventures, the early-stage investment arm of Adevinta, a leading online classifieds specialist, has launched a report about the state of online marketplaces, developed in partnership with Dealroom, a data provider focused on startup, early-stage, and growth company ecosystems.
The report examines recent trends, segmented performance, and future projections of the marketplace industry. It analysed more than 35,000 marketplaces across 30+ market segments focusing on contextualising prevailing trends in marketplaces and also addresses the impact of the global economic downturn.
The report highlights 150 of 2023's top hyper-verticalised marketplace startups across 20 market segments. Vertical marketplaces secured 90% of funding over the last three years, showcasing a growing trend of hyper-verticalisation. Fintech was one of the top-funded industries in 2023, closely followed by Food, while Energy and Fashion proved the most resilient during the downturn.
One of the key findings of this report was the evolution of traditional marketplaces towards supercharged ones, thanks to the emergence of enabling technologies (e.g. fintech, SaaS, GenAI), which received a large proportion of the available investment. Advancements in infrastructure and access to proprietary data empowered such marketplaces to provide additional services, generate new revenue streams, and enhance customer retention, allowing them to offer dynamic, user-centric platforms that are better equipped to meet the diverse needs of their users.
The report also shows that the $6.3 billion raised in B2B marketplaces accounted for a record-high 20% of total marketplace funding in 2023, up from 12% in 2022. B2B marketplaces are more resilient to economic uncertainties, supported by the digitisation of supply chains and reduced dependence on fluctuating consumer spending.
Jordi Iserte, Investment Director at Adevinta Ventures, said, “We are witnessing an evolving landscape where the synergy of SaaS solutions, fintech, and AI is boosting the marketplace sector. The rise of multi-business model marketplaces is now capturing investors’ interest as they explore vertical and niche possibilities, coupled with venturing into under-digitised B2B segments."
Yoram Wijngaarde, CEO and Founder at Dealroom.co, said, "The marketplaces landscape is undergoing a strong transformation. The rise of SaaS is blurring the lines between software and marketplaces. Marketplaces are increasingly SaaS, fintech, and AI-enabled, and at the same time SaaS companies are integrating marketplaces as add-on services to their offering.”
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Notes to editors
The full findings of this research can be found on the Adevinta website, where users can also find rankings and analytics to explore the data in full.
The report is available to download here.
Adevinta
Mireia Català
Corporate Communications
+34 620 46 80 28
mireia.catala@adevinta.com
Dealroom.co
Orla Browne
Head of content and marketing
+44 7746 957470
press@dealroom.co
About Adevinta Ventures
Adevinta Ventures is the investment arm of Adevinta, a leading online classifieds group and champion of sustainable commerce with a focus on Europe. Adevinta Ventures invests in fast-growing European start-ups in the marketplace technology space - giving promising ventures the support to accelerate their success. By investing in early stage innovation, Adevinta Ventures stays on top of new trends in technology and drives industry transformation.
Find out more at Adevinta.com/ventures.
About Dealroom.co
Dealroom.co is a global intelligence platform for discovering and tracking the most promising companies, technologies and ecosystems. Clients include many of the world’s foremost organizations such as Sequoia, Accel, Index Ventures, McKinsey, BCG, Deloitte, Google, AWS, Microsoft, Stripe.
Dealroom partners closely with local tech ecosystem development agencies and enablers, to create a comprehensive multi-dimensional blueprint of the tech ecosystem, including capital, talent, innovation, entrepreneurship and overall economic dynamism.
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