Traditional marketplace multiples vary widely. Prior to Q3 2018, the sector only had 2 companies and now has 7. Last quarter the median multiple was 4.1x, but Etsy is at 8.1x while Fiverr is at 6.9x. Etsy grows the fastest with 39% YOY growth, $748mm of revenue, and a solid 17% EBITDA margin.
Grubhub. Grubhub popped to 4.2x revenue, but that’s because they recently announced they’re for sale. Meal delivery has become increasingly competitive as peers like Uber and DoorDash continue to overspend on customer acquisition as if the market can only support one winner.
Subscription. Subscription has been humbled since 2018, and now trades at 5.1x revenue. Netflix and Match’s revenue multiple continue to be the outperformers at 8.3x and 13.9x respectively, because their customers are so sticky.
Ecommerce is soft. The sector is the least attractive to investors, with a median revenue multiple of 1.5x. There is a big difference between what we would call premium ecommerce like Carvana and Amazon (4.2x and 3.6x), versus weak ecommerce like Blue Apron (0.3x revenue). Chewy which is a new and massive ecomm player ($4.6bln in revenue) trades at 2.6x, likely because it still loses money (-$234m).
sammy@blossomstreetventures.com
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