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Meet Germany’s Unicorns Post 2: Berlin Brands — Founder Interview

Updated: Apr 30

This story was migrated from our old blog, originally published on February 8th, 2022

What Is This About?

Berlin Brands Group (BBG) is the second profile in the German Unicorns series. The company runs multiple direct-to-consumer eCommerce brands with a vertically integrated distribution approach — building, acquiring, and scaling consumer product brands entirely through online channels.

  • This blog post first appeared first on old medium publication (https://medium.

  • This is a new blogpost series of short posts to introduce you to the unicorns in the German-speaking startup scene.

  • Berlin Brands Group (BBG) runs multiple eCommerce brands with a direct-to-customer distribution approach.

  • Berlin Brands Group is active in 28 countries and develops, designs, and manages 3.

  • Mostly the growth of Berlin Brands was funded with their own cash flow but in 2015 the private equity house Ardian bought 40% of the company.


Meet Germany’s Unicorns Post 2: Berlin Brands — Founder Interview Startuprad.io brings you independent coverage of the key developments shaping the startup and venture capital landscape across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

This story was migrated from our old blog, originally published on February 8th, 2022



New Blog

This blog post first appeared first on old medium publication (https://medium.com/startuprad-io), and was moved to this blog with the relaunch of our website in summer 2024.


This is a new blogpost series of short posts to introduce you to the unicorns in the German-speaking startup scene. We will first start with the 25 official unicorns in Germany. Note that all those companies are privately held and therefore don’t need to publish lots of information. This explains the 2nd group we will cover, what we call the shmaybe-corns, which are startups rumored to be unicorns or close to the status. We will then go on to introduce you to startups from Austria and Switzerland, who have reached unicorn status and some that are no more unicorns (either they got listed, merged, or went out of business).


Berlin Brands Group (BBG) runs multiple eCommerce brands with a direct-to-customer distribution approach. They are active in sounds, lights, home, and living, as well as consumer electronics. The company was founded in 2005 by Peter Chaljawski as Chal-Tec GmbH. Peter was before selling electronics for events on eBay, which lead him to found Chal-Tec, followed by his own online shop in 2006. Chal-Tec set up a joint venture in Central Europe in 2012. Berlin Brands was set up as an umbrella out of Chal-Tec in 2019.


Berlin Brands Group is active in 28 countries and develops, designs, and manages 3.700 products with around 900 employees. They have six locations, including their headquarter in Berlin, Kamp-Lintfort (logistics center), Bratislava, Istanbul, Hong Kong, and San Francisco. Some of their brands are:

  • Klarstein, a brand under which they offer household electronics, from wine coolers to ACs, to outdoor grills https://www.klarstein.de/. According to the interview with Kassenzone (in German, Link below), Peter expects Klarstein to generate 2022 300 mn Euros revenues, generating approx. 50% of the revenues of BBG.

  • Capital Sports, a brand to enable you to build your own home gym, from clothing to dumbells and even large workout gear https://www.capitalsports.de/

  • auna, a brand for audio products from radios, to karaoke machines to sound speakers and even car audio https://www.auna.de/

  • blumfeldt, a brand for outdoor products like garden furniture, garden decor, fireplaces, outdoor heaters, and so on https://www.blumfeldt.de/

  • Numan Audio, a brand for audio lovers selling loudspeakers, audio systems, and the like https://www.numanaudio.com/


Mostly the growth of Berlin Brands was funded with their own cash flow but in 2015 the private equity house Ardian bought 40% of the company. Ardian is based in Zug, Switzerland, and was founded in 1996 by Axa, which spun out of Axa in 2013. Bain Capital bought this stake from Ardia in October 2021, injection equity and debt capital of 700 mn US$, valuing the company at the time at 1,2 bn US$. The capital will be invested in the eCommerce activities of BBG.


In November 2021 Ardian bought again shares of BBG worth 100 mn Euros. Peter Chaljawski gave an interview in German Handelsblatt stating, that they want to use these funds to buy up successful Amazon sellers (Link). The majority of the company’s equity is still held by Peter and his management team, as of November 2021.


As of January 2021, Amazon was the most important platform to sell its products on (Link). Unfortunately, we are unable to find a recent and good interview of Peter in English. Also, not a lot is known about Peter, we could only find that he started selling on eBay at 19 years old. Here is a good interview in German with eCommerce podcast Kassenzone from Peter (Link).


BBG bought in September 2021 Ogrance Brands, a company “selling direct to customers via Amazon” (Link).


Unicorn Lead Investor: Bain Capital


Other articles of this series:


Sources:








What Is Berlin Brands Group?

Berlin Brands Group (BBG) is a German unicorn that runs multiple eCommerce brands with a direct-to-consumer (D2C) distribution approach. Active in 28 countries with multiple owned brands, BBG grew mostly through cash flow before taking private equity investment in 2015. The company represents Germany's strength in D2C ecommerce and brand aggregation.

Introduction

This is the second post in Startuprad.io's "Meet Germany's Unicorns" series, profiling Berlin Brands Group (BBG). The company operates a portfolio of eCommerce brands with direct-to-consumer distribution across 28 countries. What sets BBG apart is its cash-flow-funded growth — the company was largely self-funded before accepting PE investment in 2015. BBG develops, designs, and manages multiple brands, making it one of Germany's most unique unicorn stories.

Berlin Brands Group is an eCommerce unicorn that built its business through owned D2C brands rather than marketplace dependency. Operating across 28 countries, BBG develops, designs, and manages multiple consumer brands. The company's growth was largely self-funded through cash flow, with PE investment only arriving in 2015 — a rare bootstrapped-to-unicorn story in Germany. This profile is part of Startuprad.io's unicorn series.

  • Berlin Brands Group (BBG) runs multiple eCommerce brands with direct-to-consumer distribution across 28 countries.

  • The company was largely self-funded through cash flow before taking PE investment in 2015 — a rare bootstrapped unicorn.

  • BBG develops, designs, and manages multiple consumer brands under one umbrella.

  • This is Post 2 in Startuprad.io's "Meet Germany's Unicorns" series.

Entities Referenced in This Episode

  • Berlin Brands Group (BBG) — D2C eCommerce unicorn, 28 countries, multiple brands

  • Topics: D2C ecommerce, brand aggregation, direct-to-consumer, cash-flow funded growth, German unicorn

Quote Highlights

  • Berlin Brands Group (BBG) runs multiple eCommerce brands with a direct-to-customer distribution approach across sounds, lights, home and living, and consumer electronics.

  • BBG is active in 28 countries, develops and manages 3,700 products with around 900 employees across six locations including their Berlin headquarters.

  • Growth was mostly funded through their own cash flow until 2015, when private equity house Ardian bought 40% of the company.

  • In November 2021, Ardian invested another 100 million Euros in BBG, reinforcing confidence in the company's direct-to-consumer model.

Related Episodes on Startuprad.io

Relationship Map

  • Jörn "Joe" Menninger → Host of → Startuprad.io

Partner with Startuprad.io

Startuprad.io is the leading independent media platform covering startups, venture capital, and innovation across the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and Europe. We offer B2B partnership opportunities for companies looking to reach startup decision-makers, founders, and investors.

Subscribe to the Podcast

What are the key insights from "Meet Germany’s Unicorns Post 2: Berlin Brands"?

Berlin Brands Group (BBG) is a German unicorn that owns and operates multiple eCommerce brands with direct-to-consumer distribution. Active in 28 countries, the company grew mostly through its own cash flow before accepting private equity investment in 2015.

What are the main takeaways from this discussion?

D2C (direct-to-consumer) ecommerce means selling products directly to customers rather than through retailers or marketplaces. Berlin Brands Group develops, designs, and manages its own consumer brands, controlling the entire customer relationship.

About the Host

Joern "Joe" Menninger is the host of the Startuprad.io podcast and covers founders, investors, and policy developments across the DACH startup ecosystem. Through more than 1,300 interviews and nearly a decade of reporting, he documents the evolution of the European startup landscape. Follow Joern on LinkedIn.

Support Startuprad.io

This founder profile is part of Startuprad.io’s coverage of Germany’s most significant startup success stories. If your company wants to reach founders, investors, and operators across the DACH startup ecosystem, we work with a select number of partners on high-trust visibility and thought-leadership formats. Explore partnership options here: Partner with Startuprad.io

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