Nearly $1 billion in fresh capital has been committed in 2020 to firms looking to acquire Amazon sellers and brands. The market had a breakout year because of three factors: the pandemic accelerating spending on Amazon, Thrasio raising hundreds of millions of dollars, and Anker, an Amazon-native brand, going public.

In 2019, sellers on the Amazon marketplace sold $200 billion worth of products. Amazon marketplace is so large it would rank as the 50th largest economy in the world if it were its own country, below New Zealand’s, but bigger than Qatar’s GDP. Despite that, press coverage has often wrongly focused on stories like sellers buying from Walmart to resell on Amazon instead. Amazon’s press releases have highlighted seller stories similar to those of Etsy sellers. The capital pouring in is validating the market as something serious. The businesses that sell on Amazon have grown mainly relying on measurable demand, controllable unit economics, and the predictability the data-rich marketplace provides through tools like Jungle Scout, Helium 10, and others. The firms rolling up those businesses use the same principles to evaluate and value them and grow them post-purchase.