Ecommerce roll-up firm Una Brands hits EBITDA profitability as industry struggles

While its peers are struggling, ecommerce roll-up firm Una Brands claims to have achieved EBITDA profitability in the fourth quarter of 2023, following measures to reallocate resources and cut costs.

CFO Cho Weihao reveals this milestone in an interview with Tech in Asia.

“Similar to other companies, we had to make difficult decisions regarding reallocation of resources towards more profitable initiatives and products, and selective staff cost reductions,” he says.

This development comes after Una Brands, which is backed by Lazada Group founder and former CEO Maximilian Bittner, reported a significant uptick in net loss in 2022. Despite revenue going up by 9x, losses ballooned by 10x, according to Alternatives.pe, which tracks regulatory filings.

This was primarily due to increased distribution and marketing costs as well as administrative expenses, which already exceeded the company’s revenue for the year.

Una Brands has not disclosed its 2023 figures, but Cho says that with the reallocation of its resources since the beginning of last year, the company now has “an optimal organizational structure.”

The Una Brands team / Photo credit: Una Brands

Scale versus profitability

Una Brands works with ecommerce labels based in the Asia-Pacific region with annual revenues of US$300,000 to US$20 million. It uses tech to optimize the identification, product placement, and marketing efforts of these brands.

Launched in 2021 by Foodpanda co-founder Kiren Tanna, the firm rode the rise of the ecommerce roll-up sector on the back of companies like Thrasio.

See also: Roll-ups square up to VCs in race to land top D2C deals in SEA

While 2022 was all about growth and scaling up operations, Una Brands’ focus in 2023 was on profitability and cost efficiencies, Cho tells Tech in Asia.

The company laid off part of its workforce – less than 10% – in mid-2022, expecting to hit EBITDA profitability by the end of that year.

In its bid to scale up, it acquired several new brands and brought them to new markets in 2022.

This included the acquisitions of ergonomic chair brand ErgoTune and adjustable desk retailer EverDesk+, both Singapore-based companies. After the buyout, Una Brands took the two firms to the US and Australia, Cho says.

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