German investment fund Rocket Internet‘s different companies have all been onerous in 2015, but CEO Oliver Samwer says all of the group’s start-ups are still on course.
Reached tipping point
In 2015, Rocket Internet suffered a nearly 200 million euro loss, which is the results of its start-ups’ poor performances. However, the year before, the German company had a 429 million euro profit. Oliver Samwer admitted its start-ups failed to make a profit, despite huge investments from his company. He does expect this to be a tipping point with far better results for the upcoming year.
Samwer feels the losses are part of the growing process: “It is simply a prerequisite of the internet world, that you have to reach critical mass first. If there were no competitors, things would be very different now, but in our world, you have to reach a certain mass first, before you can stabilize costs”, he said.
The goal is to turn three of Rocket Internet’s companies into profitable businesses in 2017. Some of its well-known businesses are HelloFresh, Lazada, Home24, while it is also partially responsible for Zalando’s rise to fame.
