eShop Ventures

eShop Ventures was established in Madrid, Spain, in 2012 by co-founders Rafael Garrido and Alfonso Merry del Val. The company operated as a group of e-commerce stores with the objective of creating a portfolio of online retail brands targeting diverse niche markets. The business model focused on acquiring and integrating various e-commerce verticals, handling services like warehousing, finance, IT, and marketing centrally to optimize operational costs. The portfolio included online shops for decoration (Mimub.com), children's products (Mamuky.com), men's fashion (Matby.com), women's fashion (Molet.com), and gourmet food (Expirit.es).

The company showed initial signs of rapid growth, with sales from its first brand, Mimub, growing from €300,000 in 2012 to €12 million in 2014. This trajectory attracted significant investment, including a Series A funding round of €7.7 million in June 2014 from backers like Kibo Ventures, Bonsai Venture Capital, and Atresmedia. Following this, eShop Ventures continued its acquisition strategy, purchasing brands such as El armario de la tele in 2015 and ChicPlace in 2016. However, the aggressive expansion led to financial difficulties.

Despite its early promise and being named one of the “50 best digital ideas” by a Spanish business publication in late 2015, the company struggled with high operational and marketing costs across its multiple brands and markets. These financial pressures led to the sale of its most successful platforms, Mimub and Mamuky, in March 2017. Shortly after, in April 2017, eShop Ventures filed for voluntary bankruptcy. Both founders, Garrido and Merry del Val, also held advisory roles at the venture capital firm Vitamina K. Keywords: e-commerce group, online retail, Spanish startup, venture capital, niche markets, online stores, digital retail, e-commerce portfolio, retail acquisition, Mimub, Mamuky, Rafael Garrido, Alfonso Merry del Val, Kibo Ventures, Bonsai Venture Capital, e-commerce bankruptcy