One Billion Euros: Otto About You's Subsidiary is the First "Unicorn" of Hamburg

Stand Number: 11:23 | Reading time: 2 minutes

H amburg has his first unicorn. The ready-to-wear start-up About You, created in 2014, has been valued at more than one billion euros as part of a capital increase. Thus, the subsidiary Otto has acquired the name "Unicorn" reserved for at least this amount, unlisted digital start-ups.

The name refers to the scarcity of such technological start-ups. In Europe, there are only a few dozen "unicorns" in Germany, for example, the used car dealer Berlin1 online and the start-up Celonis Munich.

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The context is that Heartland A / S, the holding company of the ready-to-wear company Bestseller A / S, became an investor in About You. As part of a $ 300 million round of financing, Heartland A / S has acquired a two-digit share of the company, according to About You. In addition, former shareholders German Media Pool and Seven Ventures as well as managing directors Tarek Müller, Sebastian Betz and Hannes Wiese participated in the capital increase.

About You have announced that they now want to use additional capital for the expansion of the company. "This collaboration will enable us to expand our customer base, gain more market share and rapidly develop new markets, while at the same time doubling the number of our employees here in Hamburg by 450 currently in the next three years, "says director and co-founder Tarek Müller.

Otto CEO Alexander Birken said: "About You will benefit immensely from this investment to achieve its very ambitious business goals." The start-up is number two in German line, behind Zalando -Bekleidungsgeschäft. However, the start-up is growing rapidly: according to its own statements, an increase in sales of 283 million euros between 450 and 480 million euros is expected for the year 2018/2019.