Zalando Welcomes New Shareholders

Berlin, February 17, 2021 – The Management Board of Zalando, Europe’s leading platform for fashion and lifestyle, acknowledges and supports the decision of Kinnevik, the Swedish investment company, to distribute all shares to its investors. The step announced today comes more than ten years after Kinnevik’s first investment into Zalando and will allow all Kinnevik shareholders to become direct shareholders in Zalando.

Kinnevik has been a pivotal investor in Zalando since 2010. During the trustful and value-creating partnership, Zalando demonstrated an unparalleled internationalization and scale-up of its operations, completed a highly successful Initial Public Offering in 2014, transitioned to a platform business model and delivered sustainable and high growth, pursuing its vision to become Europe's Starting Point for Fashion. 

Rubin Ritter, Zalando Co-CEO, says: “We are very grateful for Kinnevik’s support on our journey to build Europe's Starting Point for Fashion. Especially in the early days of Zalando, Kinnevik’s decisive support and willingness to invest and take big risks to follow a long-term conviction has made a significant difference. After such a successful partnership, granting Kinnevik shareholders direct exposure to Zalando is a logical next step and we are looking forward to welcoming them as direct shareholders in Zalando. We view this as an opportunity to gain renewed support for our vision and strategy going forward.

Over the past years, Zalando has consistently delivered strong and profitable growth at scale, quadrupling its business since the IPO in 2014. In 2020, Zalando was able to significantly accelerate its growth compared to the years before. Also going forward, Zalando intends to remain focused on capturing market share and building Europe’s Starting Point for Fashion.