B2B Marketplaces Top 50

B2B
Marketplaces
Top 50 Ranking
Q2 - 2021
CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY

Any use of this material without specific
permission of Applico is strictly prohibited
MEET THE AUTHORS
Alex Moazed Nick L. Johnson

Founder and CEO Principal
njohnson@applicoinc.com
LinkedIn Profile LinkedIn Profile
Alex Moazed is the CEO & Founder Nick is Principal at Applico, where
of Applico and co-author of the he works directly with Fortune 500
best-seller, "Modern Monopolies." C-Suites and Boards to help them
An advisor to NAW on Amazon's build and buy their own platform
business practices, Alex helps B2B businesses. He also oversees the
distributors win against big tech company’s research into platforms,
through strategy development, and he has been featured in the
education on the platform business Financial Times, Bloomberg, CNN,
model, and assisting them to CBS, Reuters, USA Today, Buzzfeed
partner, invest or acquire to name a few.
marketplace ecommerce startups.
The Defining Book on Platforms
Alex and Nick are the co-authors of

Applico’s Amazon-best seller
Modern Monopolies.
Modern Monopolies explains the

infrastructure and techniques required to
build a modern and successful tech
platform business like Uber and Airbnb.
The book was recently recognized as an
Amazon Best-Seller and has been
featured on Yahoo and Bloomberg.
www.applicoinc.com Applico - © 2021
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
1. EXECUTIVE Page 4
SUMMARY
2. RESEARCH Page 7
METHODOLOGY
3. B2B MARKETPLACES Page 9

INSIGHTS

THE LANDSCAPE

TAKEAWAYS
6. THE LANDSCAPE Page 24

IN PERSPECTIVE
7. GLOSSARY OF TERMS Page 28

EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
B2B distribution, the United States’ largest industry generating nearly $7 trillion
annually, is undergoing tremendous change.1 Few alarm bells are sounding and
most distributors show little concern about what Ian Heller calls the
wholesalepocalypse. Yet Amazon Business has rapidly made headway in B2B
distribution.
Amazon has already hired a host of B2B expert staff and former salespeople from
large distributors. And it’s rapidly introducing new competition into the US B2B
market. In the past 2 months alone, 75% of the new sellers on Amazon are Chinese
manufacturers.2 That number is a significant increase from 47% in 2020, and there is
no end in sight. This influx of new, low-cost competition via Amazon is a worrisome
trend for distributors and manufacturers alike.
To make matters worse, on March 15, 2021,

Amazon Business
Amazon Business admitted that it is doing is doing $25B in
$25B in annual Gross Merchandise Value annual GMV, six
(GMV), six years after its launch, with more years after its
than half of those sales coming from
third-party sellers.3 That number is up from
launch, with more
$10B in 2018. To put that in context, that than half of those
would mean Amazon Business now sells sales coming
about twice as much as Grainger, and it from third-party
would mean Amazon is already a top 5
sellers.
distributor across all of B2B.
At this rate, per Applico’s prediction in 2018, Amazon Business is on track to do

$75B in annual GMV by 2023. Bank of America analysts predicted $52B by the end
of 2023, but Amazon Business’ current growth trajectory has surpassed that
projection. B2B distributors, as well as manufacturers, are in BIG trouble. The rise
of Amazon Business spells the downfall of large incumbent distributors and
manufacturers, if they don’t act.
Whether or not Amazon will dominate B2B to the same extent it does retail is yet
to be decided.
1. The Frantz Group, “Wholesale Distribution Industry Overview,” accessed March 29, 2021.
2. Kaziukenas, Juoza, “75% of New Sellers Are From China,” Marketplace Pulse, March 19, 2021.
3. Amazon Business, “U.S. public entities and enterprises accelerate adoption of Amazon Business,” March 15, 2021.

4
5
This report ranks the top 50 B2B marketplace startups. Like distributors,
these startups are also competing against Amazon Business.
Distributors and B2B marketplace startups have a narrow window of

opportunity to work together to ensure that Amazon’s retail dominance isn’t
repeated in B2B distribution.
The top 50 B2B Marketplace ranking focuses exclusively on B2B product

marketplaces that facilitate the exchange of goods between a business
customer and a third-party distributor and/or supplier. This ranking does not
include marketplaces for services and is focused on US marketplace activity.
We believe every startup in this ranking

should be studied thoroughly by distributors
and manufacturers alike. And quickly. The average
Asset-inflation is on the rise according to
Lending Tree’s Chief Economist Tendayi
valuation of
Kapfidze.4 Valuations for mid-to-late stage startups in
startups have dramatically increased. And Applico’s Top 50
now, many late-stage venture capital firms
are shifting their investments to Series A
Ranking is
startups, further exacerbating valuation $250M.
inflation problems amongst earlier stage
startups.
As each startup’s valuation rises, distributors’ leverage and opportunity

decreases. Fortunately, the average valuation of startups in our top 50 ranking is
$250M. And, the average valuation in the top 25 is $450M. These opportunities
are not yet out of reach for large distributors.
Many of the top 50 marketplaces still represent attractive opportunities for

strategics evaluating an acquisition, investment or partnership opportunity.
4. Kapfidze, Tendayi, “Lending Tree Chief Economist, Tendayi Kapfidze on Asset Inflation, 2021 GDP
Growth, and Stimulus“ Winner Take All, March 17, 2021.

5
6
Applico has correctly predicted the growth in B2B marketplaces over

the last several years and we believe the industry is on the cusp of a
B2B commerce renaissance. Applico is actively advising major
distributors and service providers in B2B distribution on how to
better engage with tech startups. The more enterprises and startups
work together, the worse off for Amazon and the better off for just
about everyone else. If this sounds like you, get in touch at
info@applicoinc.com!
In addition to this report, Applico recommends you also evaluate

our landscape of SaaS and MaaS (marketplace as a service) tool
providers, not included in this report because they are not
marketplaces, in the B2B distribution industry. These reports can
be found at resources.applicoinc.com/maassaas/.
Sign up for our weekly

Platform Innovation
Insights Newsletter at
applicoinc.com/insights

6
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
Ranking Methodology: The following factors were weighed in determining the
top 50 product marketplace startup rankings:
● Scale - Scale is measured as traction in filling each side of the marketplace

to generate both supply and demand. One of the best measurements of
marketplace scale is GMV, gross merchandise value, the aggregate
measure of total sales facilitated by the marketplace. Some industries like
Agriculture – have very high aggregate marketplace GMV because the
average order value (AOV) is much higher relative to other industries.
● Monetization - Companies who monetized with a meaningful take rate

scored at the top of the monetization criteria. A take rate is the percentage
of each transaction that goes through the platform that the marketplace
keeps as revenue. Being able to charge a meaningful take rate at scale
suggests the marketplace provides a lot of value to both sides of its
network and has strong defensibility. It also substantially increases the
profit potential of a marketplace compared to other methods of
generating revenue. Advertising revenue could also be another path for a
marketplace to have a high margin revenue stream. Other monetization
strategies such as a recurring subscription, value-added services, SaaS fees
or revenue derived from being a reseller scored lower than companies
who had a higher proportion of take rate revenue.
● Competition - In our methodology, companies who successfully compete

and grow in a crowded industry are favored more highly than companies
who are operating in less competitive markets. Similarly, companies that
are not one of the top two to three marketplaces in a crowded industry
were ranked lower.
● Competitive advantages/barriers to entry/moat - Companies that have

successfully built competitive advantages such as meaningful scale,
first-mover advantage, unique inventories, or are offering an attractive or
unique arrangement for users such as credit terms, financing, etc. were
ranked more highly.

7
8
● Market size - Companies operating in larger markets with more

greenfield opportunity were considered to be more favorable than those
in smaller, more niche markets that have less potential GMV to be
captured.
● Capitalization - Companies who successfully raised meaningful capital to scale

their platforms, as well as those that were perceived to be profitable, were
ranked higher than those that had less success or traction in fundraising or
generating sustainable revenues.
● Investor backing - This metric was a minor factor, but companies in the
rankings who successfully attracted reputable and successful investors were
considered to have an advantage over their peers.
● Data Sources: A combination of the below data sources were used to identify
companies and to collect data to inform the ranking:
○ PitchBook
○ Crunchbase
○ Company Websites
○ Publicly available information
○ Industry sources and relationships
● Entry Criteria: The following factors were requirements for consideration into
the ranking:
○ US Operations: The ranking is based upon a marketplace’s business within
the United States. However, a marketplace does not have to be
headquartered in the US to qualify for the ranking.
○ Product Marketplace: The marketplace has to be transacting products,
not services. Marketplaces that sold cars, rather than auto parts, were
excluded, as they are typically not included in assessments of the B2B
Distribution market.
○ Independent Company: The marketplace is a private company and has
not been acquired by another entity.

8
B2B MARKETPLACES
INSIGHTS

9
10
INSIGHTS
AVERAGE CAPITAL RAISED
VS. AVERAGE VALUATION AND NUMBER
OF STARTUPS
● Agriculture is the most mature vertical for B2B marketplaces. It’s already seeing
a winner take all dynamic with the top two marketplaces commanding
significant volumes and fundraising capabilities.
● Other verticals that have more marketplace startups are still in development
and the top two marketplaces are not clearly defined. Some verticals, like food
products, may have one clear leader, but then there are multiple marketplaces
competing for the #2 spot.
Figure 1

10
11
INSIGHTS
NUMBER OF STARTUPS PER VERTICAL
VS. TOTAL CAPITAL RAISED
● Figure 1 shows the average capital raised, whereas this figure shows total capital
raised. The difference is seen in verticals like Fashion where there are many
marketplace startups, yet there are a few marketplaces with significant scale
and significant capital raised.
● The categories with fewer startups and less overcall capital raised show clear
signs of future opportunities for growth.
● Auto and Healthcare buck the trend : as the number of startups increases, so
does total capital raised. The reason is that there are some startups in both of
these categories which we believe are profitable and/or have positive free cash
flows and haven’t had a need to raise venture capital.
Figure 2

11
12
INSIGHTS
TOP 10 VENTURE CAPITAL FIRMS
INVESTING IN B2B MARKETPLACES
Figure 3

12
13
INSIGHTS
TOP 50 AGGREGATE GMV
VS. AMAZON BUSINESS
● Today, Amazon Business has less than 25% of B2B marketplace GMV. Amazon
Business is on track to reach $75 billion by 2023, at roughly 50% compound
annual growth rate (CAGR). That's compared to Amazon's 44% share in retail
e-commerce.5
● All of B2B e-commerce is estimated at $1.39 trillion in 2020 and growing at a
11.9% CAGR.6 We project that all marketplaces, both marketplace startups and
Amazon Business, will continue to gain more e-commerce market share relative
to overall B2B e-commerce.
● In 2020, all US retail ecommerce surpassed $861B, Amazon accounted for nearly
30% of all US e-commerce in the US. B2B Marketplaces are approximately 1/10
the size of retail e-commerce sales.
5. Dugan, Wayne, “Latest E-Commerce Market Share Numbers and Amazon’s Dominance,”
February 4, 2020.
6. “2021 U.S. B2B Ecommerce Market Report,” Digital Commerce 360, February, 2021.
7. “US E-Commerce Grows 44%,” Digital Commerce 360, January 29, 2021 Figure 4

13
14
INSIGHTS
VERTICALS WITH $10B+ and $1B GMV
● Only two verticals, agriculture and fashion, have more than $10B in GMV.
And, seven verticals have more than $1B in GMV. This is calculated by
aggregating the GMV of all marketplaces in a given vertical.
● The auto parts, cannabis, contract manufacturing, food products, general
retail, healthcare and liquor verticals were able to generate over $1B in GMV
because contract manufacturing marketplaces were included in the
category alongside more traditional product marketplaces.
Figure 5

14
B2B MARKETPLACES
THE LANDSCAPE

15
16
B2B MARKET INSIGHTS

TOP 50 B2B Marketplaces
Private US-based Product Marketplaces
The top 50 B2B Marketplace ranking focuses exclusively on B2B product marketplaces that
facilitate the exchange of goods between a business customer and a third party distributor
and/or supplier. This ranking does not include marketplaces for services and is focused on US
marketplace activity.
Figure 6

16
17
B2B MARKET INSIGHTS

TOP 50 B2B Marketplaces
Private US-based Product Marketplaces
Figure 7

17
18
B2B MARKET INSIGHTS

TOP 50 MARKETPLACE RANKING
Figure 8

18
19
B2B MARKET INSIGHTS

Figure 9

19
20
B2B MARKET INSIGHTS

Figure 10

20
21
B2B MARKET INSIGHTS

Figure 11

21
B2B MARKETPLACES
TAKEAWAYS
● Agriculture has the biggest marketplaces by capital raised and
valuation, but there are only two players, Indigo and FBN, and they
are hybrid marketplaces, meaning they combine both linear and
marketplace businesses. Additionally, they don’t monetize their
marketplace very well. They do huge volumes, bigger than our #1
marketplace Faire, but they don’t have as much pricing leverage to
charge a meaningful take rate. Instead, the majority of their revenue
comes from selling linear inputs like fertilizer and other value-added
services to farms.
● Fashion marketplaces is the other vertical with $10B + in GMV. But

similar to agriculture, a number of the leading marketplaces in
fashion don’t charge as meaningful of a take rate as we see in other
verticals. This could change in the future and/or advertising could be a
bigger priority as these marketplaces continue to drive massive volumes.
● Chinese marketplaces, historically, tend to derive more revenue from

advertising than take rates. In the US, more marketplaces try to
charge a take rate. If a take rate doesn’t fit the business model for
regulatory reasons, like in cannabis, or because of market conditions,
advertising revenue is a viable alternative only when large scale has been
achieved. Meaningful advertising revenues are generally not possible
with little scale. To bridge that gap, advertising-based marketplaces
require substantial investor capital to reach enough scale until
significant advertising revenues start to kick in.
● Auto parts, general retail, food and healthcare are all large
industries with meaningful marketplace scale. Not only are the
marketplaces doing impressive volumes, they are all able to
command some form of take rate with a healthy revenue-to-GMV
ratio. We expect all of these industries to continue to see aggressive
marketplace growth while keeping sustainable gross margins.

22
23
● While not in this marketplace ranking, European B2B chemical

marketplaces are collectively seeing more traction than in the US.
As a result, we see chemical distribution in the US as a promising
vertical for more aggressive growth in the coming years.
● Industrial and Maintenance, Repairs, Operations (MRO) product

marketplace startups are not as large as one would think – given
the relative commoditization of the product catalog and the
aggressive focus of Amazon Business and other entrants on this
category. We think that the competitive environment – namely
Amazon Business as a major competitor – has thwarted venture capital
investment into marketplace startups in this category. That said, there
are still a number of startups with meaningful scale that represent
attractive partnership or M&A opportunities for incumbents.
● Electrical, building materials, metal and other niche B2B verticals

are promising and we expect to see continued growth, even though
they do not have over $1B in aggregate marketplace GMV so far.
Venture capital investment is present in these verticals and the
fragmentation, industry size, and other qualifiers for successful
marketplace traction are present. The recipe is there for marketplace
disruption in the coming years.

23
THE LANDSCAPE
IN PERSPECTIVE:
HOW DISTRIBUTORS CAN
COLLABORATE WITH B2B
MARKETPLACES
This top 50 ranking was created to help

distributors and leading startups work
together and prevent Amazon Business For distributors
from diminishing their collective market
share and future growth opportunities.
and marketplace
Fortunately for free enterprise, there is a startups, it’s not
relatively small but growing cohort of necessary to
B2B marketplace startups that can
challenge Amazon.
compete with
Amazon Business
For distributors and marketplace on their own. By
startups, it’s not necessary to compete partnering
with Amazon Business on their own. By
partnering together, they can reach
together, they can
digital scale more quickly. Marketplace reach digital scale
startups need scale more than capital - more quickly.
and incumbents need to embrace new
digital business models more than ever
before.

24
25
Marketplace Value: Owning the Network and Preventing

Competitive Threats
All that said, incumbents should be wary of providing scale to a marketplace

without taking a strategic stake or ensuring they capture some of the upside.
McDonald’s experience with UberEats is a case in point. McDonald’s rolled out

an exclusive partnership in 2017 with UberEats to compete with other big
chains that already had delivery services. UberEats was able to effectively build
its global business on the back of McDonald’s scale. At one point, McDonald’s
accounted for 10% of restaurants listed on UberEats worldwide.8
UberEats became a
dominant player in the US
and abroad, and
McDonald’s got little-to-no
long term benefit.
McDonald’s lost the chance to exact a much better deal from Uber when it had
the leverage to do so. Recent moves to diversify partnerships through deals,
like with Doordash and with Just Eat in the UK, won’t make up for the missed
opportunity. McDonald’s underestimated how big of an advantage it would
provide to whichever platform it partnered with – and it should have gotten
much more long-term value for that.
Plaid’s failed acquisition by Visa is another illustrative

example. Banks and large financial institutions weren’t
worried about Plaid, which provides a data transfer
network that powers fintech and digital finance
products. In short, it enables fintechs to easily get data
from traditional financial institutions. Most in the
industry didn’t view Plaid as a threat – that is, until a
dominant platform company came in and tried to buy it.
8. Wong, Vanessa, “McDonald’s And Uber Eats Need Eachother Now More Than Ever,” Buzzfeed
News, February 15, 2018.

25
26
Once Visa announced its planned acquisition of Plaid for $5.3 billion, many in
the financial sector were up in arms over the competitive threat.9 In the end,
the US Department of Justice sued to prevent the merger and was eventually
successful in getting the two companies to abandon the acquisition
Relying on antitrust laws to prevent Amazon or another major platform

company from making a big marketplace acquisition in your industry is a risky
proposition. If major financial institutions had a strategic stake in Plaid, they
could have prevented Visa from even considering an acquisition in the first
place.
Taking a strategic stake in the leading marketplace in your industry can help
prevent this nightmare disruptive scenario from happening – and help prevent
Amazon Business, or another tech monopoly, from suddenly being on your
doorstep.
B2B Marketplace: Partnership vs. M&A Opportunities
Strategic investments or mergers and acquisitions (M&A) can provide offensive

value, to gain digital customers and market share, as well as defensive value, in
preventing Amazon or another major platform monopoly from acquiring the
leading marketplaces in your industry. Properly structured partnerships, unlike
what McDonald’s did with Uber Eats, can enable a large enterprise to
accelerate revenue growth in the core business while capturing equity upside
in the startup partner - without having to invest capital into the startup itself.
Walmart provides a
recent M&A example. It
acquired Jet.com to
jumpstart its marketplace
efforts, and now
Walmart’s marketplace
and e-commerce growth
is consistently
outperforming.10
9. “VISA to Acquire Plaid,” VISA press release, January 13, 2020.

10. Kaziukenas, Juoza, “Marketplace Is Driving Walmart’s Online Progress,” Marketplace
Pulse, November 14, 2019.
26
27
In B2B, Grainger entered a joint venture with

MonatoRo, a Japanese B2B marketplace for
industrial supplies. Now, the head of Grainger’s
MonatoRo also leads Zoro, an additional
Grainger e-commerce marketplace, which has
experienced exceptional growth.11 In 2019,
MonatoRo sales increased 19% year over year to
$1.9B compared to Grainger’s total sales
increase of 2.5% to $11.5B.
Partnerships are a great way to start building the innovation muscle memory
in a large distribution organization. When properly arranged, a startup
partnership could bring a more comprehensive solution to a distributor’s
existing customers. The startup achieves more scale and the distributor
actualizes more revenue and grows the customer base.
Vertical Specific Marketplaces: How to Beat Amazon Business
Further abroad, specialized B2B marketplaces have taken over in China, which
is already home to the largest e-commerce market in the world. While unicorns
like Alibaba and Tencent are the big story in terms of generalized e-commerce
outlets, several Chinese startups have risen up over roughly the past decade to
solve the fragmentation problem inherent in B2B industries. They have begun
to dominate verticals such as agriculture, food services, chemicals, industrial
machinery, and maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO).
As it relates to Amazon Business, this state of affairs is not yet guaranteed. In

the West, incumbents need to act quickly to enable a future where
vertical-specific B2B marketplaces can successfully compete against large,
multi-category marketplaces like Amazon Business. More important than
capital, platform startups want to solve for scale – something incumbents have
and can provide to up-and-coming marketplaces.
Are you ready to explore B2B marketplace partnerships or M&A? Applico’s

experienced, founder-led teams can help you go end-to-end, from platform
design and strategy through deal execution, integration and scaling up. If
you would like to discuss these B2B marketplace opportunities, please
contact us at info@applicoinc.com!
11. “Grainger Names A New Head of Zoro.com,” 360 Digital Commerce 360, January 30, 2020.

27
Glossary of Terms
Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) - The sum, in monetary value, of all merchandise
sold through a marketplace. This metric is typically used for digital marketplaces to
measure the health of the business and total throughput it facilitates.
Product Marketplace - A platform that connects buyers and sellers of physical goods
with each other and facilitates a transaction.
Linear Business - A company that creates a product or service and sells it to a

customer. Value flows linearly and in one direction through the company's supply
chain. These businesses are generally asset heavy.
Platform Business Model - A business model that facilitates the exchange of value
between multiple user groups, typically consumers and producers. These businesses
are asset-light.
Platform Type - A group of platforms in which the core transaction facilitates the
same kind of value being exchanged. Figuring out which platform type a business
model fits into is one of the first steps in platform design.12
Revenue-to-GMV Ratio - By standard accounting rules, GMV does not count as

revenue for a marketplace. Marketplace revenue is the portion of a transaction that
the marketplace retains via a take rate, or the revenue it can earn by selling other
value added services or advertising. Comparing the ratio of a marketplace’s revenue to
the GMV it facilitates is a useful metric to understand how much of the value created
the business is able to retain as revenue.
Take Rate - The percentage of each transaction facilitated that the marketplace
retains as revenue. A typical take rate for B2B marketplaces would fall between 1%-15%,
depending on the vertical
10. Applico Inc., “Platform Types: Explained and Defined,” Applicoinc.com, Accessed April 5,
2021.

28
ABOUT US
Applico is the Platform Advisory and Investment firm to CEOs

and Boards who are tired of the same old career consultants and
bankers. We are a team of tech entrepreneurs with proven
experience building high growth tech businesses. Our founder
led teams advise enterprises on how to do the right deals with
tech startups, both strategically and economically. We’re so
confident in your intrinsic value – that we’ll co-invest alongside
of you. We win when you get results. Not PowerPoints.
Introducing: Applico Capital

Applico Capital is the vehicle for Applico to co-invest alongside
enterprises when they do a transaction with a tech startup.
Initially, Applico Capital was formed to coincide with the launch
of PLAT, WisdomTree’s Growth Leaders fund comprised
exclusively of platform businesses.
As of Dec. 10, 2020, PLAT was up 62.5% over a 1-year period,

outperforming other tech indices by over 25%.
To learn more about PLAT, visit :

https://www.wisdomtree.com/etfs/equity/plat

29
Disclosures
The views expressed here are those of the individual Applico LLC (Applico) personnel
quoted and are not the views of Applico. Certain information contained here has
been obtained from third-party sources. While taken from sources believed to be
reliable, Applico has not independently verified such information and makes no
representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its
appropriateness for a given situation.
This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied
upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own
advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for
illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or
offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed
at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under
any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund
managed by Applico. (An offering to invest in an Applico fund will be made only by
the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant
documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any
investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not
representative of all investments in vehicles managed by Applico, and there can be
no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made
in the future will have similar characteristics or results.
Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should
not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not
indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any
projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in
these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to
opinions expressed by others. Please see Applicoinc.com for additional disclosures.
This information in this report was updated as of Feb. 1, 2021.

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B2B

CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY

Alex Moazed Nick L. Johnson

The Deﬁning Book on Platforms

Alex and Nick are the co-authors of

Modern Monopolies explains the

3. B2B MARKETPLACES Page 9

4. B2B MARKETPLACES Page 15

5. B2B MARKETPLACES Page 22

6. THE LANDSCAPE Page 24

7. GLOSSARY OF TERMS Page 28

www.applicoinc.com Applico - © 2021

To make matters worse, on March 15, 2021,

At this rate, per Applico’s prediction in 2018, Amazon Business is on track to do

www.applicoinc.com Applico - © 2021

Distributors and B2B marketplace startups have a narrow window of

The top 50 B2B Marketplace ranking focuses exclusively on B2B product

We believe every startup in this ranking

As each startup’s valuation rises, distributors’ leverage and opportunity

Many of the top 50 marketplaces still represent attractive opportunities for

www.applicoinc.com Applico - © 2021

Applico has correctly predicted the growth in B2B marketplaces over

In addition to this report, Applico recommends you also evaluate

Sign up for our weekly

www.applicoinc.com Applico - © 2021

● Scale - Scale is measured as traction in ﬁlling each side of the marketplace

● Monetization - Companies who monetized with a meaningful take rate

● Competition - In our methodology, companies who successfully compete

● Competitive advantages/barriers to entry/moat - Companies that have

www.applicoinc.com Applico - © 2021

● Market size - Companies operating in larger markets with more

● Capitalization - Companies who successfully raised meaningful capital to scale

www.applicoinc.com Applico - © 2021

www.applicoinc.com Applico - © 2021

www.applicoinc.com Applico - © 2021

www.applicoinc.com Applico - © 2021

www.applicoinc.com Applico - © 2021

www.applicoinc.com Applico - © 2021

www.applicoinc.com Applico - © 2021

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B2B MARKET INSIGHTS

www.applicoinc.com Applico - © 2021

B2B MARKET INSIGHTS

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B2B MARKET INSIGHTS

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B2B MARKET INSIGHTS

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B2B MARKET INSIGHTS

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B2B MARKET INSIGHTS

www.applicoinc.com Applico - © 2021

● Fashion marketplaces is the other vertical with $10B + in GMV. But

● Chinese marketplaces, historically, tend to derive more revenue from

www.applicoinc.com Applico - © 2021

● While not in this marketplace ranking, European B2B chemical

● Industrial and Maintenance, Repairs, Operations (MRO) product

● Electrical, building materials, metal and other niche B2B verticals

www.applicoinc.com Applico - © 2021

This top 50 ranking was created to help

www.applicoinc.com Applico - © 2021

Marketplace Value: Owning the Network and Preventing

All that said, incumbents should be wary of providing scale to a marketplace

McDonald’s experience with UberEats is a case in point. McDonald’s rolled out