Startup marketplace MicroAcquire now valued at $110 million

MicroAcquire, a marketplace for selling startups, is now valued at over $110 million after a nearly $7 million capital raise.

The US platform’s founder Andrew Gazdecki wants to simplify the process of selling startups and early stage businesses by listing them on a marketplace to give them more visibility to investors and potential buyers.

Posting on social media following the news about MicroAcquire’s latest capital raise and valuation, Gazdecki said he was keen on changing the “archaic process” of getting your startup acquired.

“Our mission is to bring the startup acquisition market together, with trust, transparency, and ease of use,” he said.

“Beyond humbled to be building the world’s most founder-friendly startup acquisition marketplace.”

Since its founding in January 2020, MicroAcquire has grown to have over 2,000 companies listed for sale and 100,000 buyers.

The platform is aimed at smaller scale startups that haven’t picked up funding for their business and may be unsure how to access venture capital.

It makes money by charging investors a premium fee giving them instant access to new listing and more detail about startups on the marketplace.

MicroAcquire is also reportedly looking to add a small transaction fee in the next 12 months.

For free users, only the broad business metrics are visible but it gives you a good sense of the state a startup is in before starting a conversation with the seller.

There are six numbers on each listing: the annual profit, recurring revenue, number of customers, date founded, team size, and asking price.

But as with most online marketplaces, the quality of listings varies wildly.

Some newly founded companies – as young as a month old – claim to have dozens of customers and are asking for just a few thousand dollars.

Then there are those like one “profitable edtech company” founded in 2014 that claims to have US$166,000 annual profit, over 100,000 customers and is asking just US$1.2 million for an acquisition.

Gazdecki came up with the idea for MicroAcquire after selling his own startup Bizness Apps to a private equity firm in 2018.

The amount of money was life-changing for Gazdecki but he wants to normalise smaller acquisitions that can still make a big difference in the lives of aspiring entrepreneurs.

Earlier this year Gazdecki claimed to have the “largest database of startup buyers in the world” and is hoping he can capitalise on the data from them and the thousands of small businesses listed on MicroAcquire.

He said the team is building a real-time valuation platform that takes in a company’s financial data and, based on acquisitions that have closed on the site, can suggest how much it might be worth to a potential seller.