Otto Group to become a venture capital services provider

To date, the Otto Group has invested an amount in the mid-triple-digit millions in over 100 shareholdings of more than 10 countries. Since 2008, the Otto Group has been active in the venture capital business with e.ventures, which invests in digital business models in the early and later-stage phases.

Since 2012, the Otto Group has also participated in Project A Ventures, the operational early-phase investor and company builder, as founding partner and investor. Some of e.ventures’ involvements are the auctionata platform (www.auctionata.de), Azimo (www.azimo.com) and farfetch (www.farfetch.de), a portal for luxury goods, among many others. The Project A portfolio includes companies such as Spryker (www.spryker.de), nu3 (www.nu3.de), World Remit (www.worldremit.com) and Tictail (www.tictail.com).

As a pioneer in Multichannel Retail (mail order, over-the-counter and online retail), the Otto Group has operated in digital transformation in its approximately 123 companies. There is a three-year plan to the end of the 2015/2016 financial year budgets investments of around EUR 300 million in total towards the implementation of the ecommerce strategy in the core business. According to preliminary estimates for its retail and service business, the Otto Group expects online sales to amount to around EUR 6.3 billion (a plus of around 2.5%) for the current 2014/15 financial year (28 February),

In Germany, where it has more than 100 online shops and an online turnover forecast of around EUR 4.1 billion (a plus of around 3%), the Otto Group is a market player in online retail for fashion and furniture. While online sales of furniture, home accessories and electronics grew strongly, the Otto Group could not escape the weak overall market in Germany for textiles, nor the declines in international markets such as Russia and France.