Catawiki
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Type of site | Online auction house |
|---|---|
| Website |
www |
| Alexa rank |
 19,979 (April 2016)[1] |
Catawiki is an online auction house for buying and selling special items and collectibles. Catawiki was founded in 2008 as an online community for collectors. Since 2011, the company has been hosting weekly online auctions, in various categories such as vintage comic books, model trains, coins, watches, art, jewellery and classic cars. [2] [3] [4]
History
Catawiki was founded by René Schoenmakers, a Dutch comic collector, and Marco Jansen, a Dutch developer. It went online on September 10, 2008 as an online wiki-based compendium of collector's catalogues. First focusing on comics, the database later covered items such as postage stamps, coins and telephone cards. [3]
Since 2011, Catawiki has been hosting auctions for thousands of different objects. The site was originally in Dutch, but was made available in English in 2011, in French and German in 2012, and in Spanish, Italian and Chinese in 2015. [3][5][4][6]
Investment
In September 2014, Catawiki raised €10 million in a series B round of funding led by Accel Partners, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm behind Facebook and Spotify. [3]
In July 2015, Catawiki raised €75 million ($82 million) in a series C round of funding led by Lead Edge Capital, the New York-based growth stage investor that has also backed Chinese internet giant Alibaba. [2][6][7][8]
Awards
In December 2015, Catawiki secured first place in the 2015 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Europe, Middle East & Africa program, listing the region’s 500 fastest growing companies. [9][10][4]
Business Model
Catawiki has been curating weekly auctions since 2011, across a number of categories such as art, books, curiosa, model trains, stamps, wine and classic cars. Catawiki’s auctions are online-only. Bids are open for all to see. Winners pay what they bid via a secure payment service to receive the object from the seller. [11] Catawiki operates a network of over 100 auctioneers who value, authenticate and curate objects. [7] [4] The site makes money by charging the buyer 9% and the seller 12.5% of the sale price. [2] [4] [11]
Notable auctions
- Esquel meteorite, €4.900 (February 2014) [4][11]
- DeLorean DMC-12, sold for €20.500 (September 2014) [4][11]
- Jaw of a T-rex, €10.000 (November 2014) [4][11]
- Macallan Anniversary Malt (over 50 years old), €14.500 (January 2015) [4][11]
- Signed Tintin comic book (Tintin au pays des Soviets - deluxe edition)(May 2015) [4][11]
- A bottle of Romanée-Conti Grand Cru, €4.500 (May 2015) [4][11]
- Lego Star Wars - Millennium Falcon set, €4.700 (June 2015) [4][11]
- Oil on canvas by Aristarkh Lentulov, €24.000 (August 2015) [4][11]
- Porsche 356 from 1960, sold for €165.000 (October 2015) [4][11]
See also
References
- ↑ Site Overview catawiki.nl, Alexa Internet. Retrieved on 19 April 2016.
- 1 2 3 Internet auctioneer Catawiki raises $82m as Dutch start-ups take off, TheTelegraph.co.uk, 30 July 2015
- 1 2 3 4 Online Auction House Catawiki Scores €10M Series B Led By Accel Partners, TechCrunch.com, 24 September 2014
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Meet the entrepreneurs chasing eBay's auction throne, ManagementToday.co.uk, 11 December 2015
- ↑ Online veilinghuis uit Assen verovert de wereld, AD.nl, 23 June 2015
- 1 2 Catawiki raises $82M to grow its online auction house for collectibles such as dinosaur bones, VentureBeat.com, 29 July 2015
- 1 2 Holland’s Catawiki Raises $82M To Take On eBay In Collectible Auctions, TechCrunch.com, 29 July 2015
- ↑ The Dutch startup that's building a high-end eBay for collectors just raised $82 million in funding, BusinessInsider.co.uk, 29 July 2015
- ↑ Fastest growing tech companies revealed in Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA, GrowthBusiness.co.uk, 3 December 2015
- ↑ Fastest growing tech companies revealed in Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA, Deloitte.com, 3 December 2015
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Internet auctioneer Catawiki launches in UK to capture biggest collectibles market, TheTelegraph.co.uk, 7 December 2015