Etsy has raised $20 million from a new financing round with Index Ventures. Also, Burda and Accel Partners have again participated in the round. According to insiders familiar to the deal, the financing is intended for paying out early business…

Online video provider Vimeo is constantly being used by online retailers (even though it doesn’t seem to be the wish of the makers). Interest in Vimeo may now even increase due to its recent availability on Flash incompatible end devices:…

Groupon expands further internationally by acquisitions and has followed up their Citydeal takeover now with majority investments in the Russian Darberry and Japanese Qpod. So reported the Wall Street Journal. Otto’s eVenture Capital Partners, who hold stakes in both Citydeal…

Where is Magento now two years after launching? Roman Zenner, co-author of a new Magento handbook for developers (German language), has written a critique on his English language blog: "One thing is for sure: Magento has reached reality. Right now,…

Amazon wants to raise the bar on the online fashion world just as Zappos has done (acquired by Amazon in 2009). Responding to talk show host Charlie Rose’s question on what Amazon is currently working on, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos…

Price competition is not always the be-all and end-all, and this goes especially for fashion. As a consequence, the online market for fashion can be roughly divided into two large segments. Beyond the bargain hunters there is more than enough…

Named “Best New Online Retailer” and “Most Innovative Online Retailer”, the online shoe retailer Shoes of Prey has done very well at the Online Retail Industry Awards in Australia. Not far off the mark, because Shoes of Prey has executed…

Following the recent shutdown of Dealstreet, penny auction pioneer Swoopo continues to downsize: First one CEO left, then a second. Now the long time CFO is also heading out in the direction of 1-2-3.tv (German press release). But even before…

Since February, the Swedish investment house Kinnevik has been holding 12% of Rocket Internet (Zalando, 7Trends, FP Commerce, etc). The option exists to raise this share to 25%. This is according to the 6 month report (PDF): "In February Kinnevik…

Lessons learned from the much anticipated IPO of British online supermarket Ocado: If you impose exceedingly optimistic expectations on the market these days, you will still have an excellent chance to hit an above average valuation. With the side-effect however,…