Icecat NV
Icecat is a profitable and fast-growing online publisher or syndicator of product information, mainly for the e-commerce market. Icecat makes product information available in 60+ languages and is actively used almost everywhere in the world, now in 243 different countries or regions.
On the one hand, Icecat works for around 400 brands (sponsors). For these sponsors, Icecat supports their sales channel with multimedia product information, under the name Open Icecat.
The global publisher of online product information
Consumers and professionals all over the world are increasingly shopping online for their purchases. They therefore expect web shops and other e-commerce apps to offer complete product information and reviews to help them make a good purchasing decision. In every language, in every market. Icecat NV is one of the few global players that responds to this growing market need.
These sponsors work with Open Icecat
“The Icecat service delivers a good solution for providing product data to the Sony etail partners. The account managers of Icecat are always looking for solutions and ways to improve their services. It's therefore a dynamic relationship.”
Sony, Timon Kuit – Commercial Executive Sony
On the other hand, Icecat provides product information subscriptions to tens of thousands of web shops, comparison sites, purchasing portals and other e-commerce companies and apps, including the largest e-commerce companies in the world. Icecat helps them fully cover their online catalogues, search filters and comparators with relevant product information, under the name Full Icecat.
These e-commerce companies work with Full Icecat
“Now we also want to encourage the toy brands to offer their product information through Icecat. This gives both us and the brands great efficiency improvement.”
Bol.com, Marco de Vries – Senior Manager Content Solutions at Bol.com
Market and industry
Thanks to the free, open content catalog Open Icecat, Icecat has developed developed worldwide into a dominant source of product information for e-commerce applications. The open content approach makes Icecat unique in its market. Not just the open source community, but the corporate e-commerce market has also fully embraced Open Icecat.
Ecommerce Partners
The estimated number of connected (registered) e-commerce or channel partners – free users of Open Icecat or customers of the paid version, Full Icecat, is more than 2020 at the end of 94.000 and the number of supported brands in the Icecat catalog is more than 30.000.
Product data sheet creation
The most important processes in Icecat's workflow are monitored via non-financial KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). The most important KPI change resulting from the application of AI (artificial intelligence) and ETL (extract, transform & load) techniques is the continuity of the annual production of data sheets. This is around 1,7 million data sheets in 2020.
Categories supported
The categories supported by the Icecat catalog continue to grow steadily over the years.
The main sectors that Icecat focuses on are:
IT and electronics
Toys
Health & Beauty
Do it yourself
Fast Moving Consumer Goods (Supermarket Items)
Automotive
Fashion
Positioning relative to competitors
In Icecat's core sector, product data for IT & electronics, there are only two global players active besides Icecat: CNET Content Solutions (purchased by Columbia Broadcasting System – CBS), and Etilize (acquired by GfK). Brandbank is active in another interesting sector, supermarket items. Brandbank was purchased by Nielssen in 2015. In many other sectors there is still an unexplored market situation with regard to the provision of product data. This offers plenty of room for further growth.
Fundamental growth figures
In 2020, Icecat's annual revenues increased by 8% to 9,7 million euros compared to the previous year.
Shareholder structure of the company
Corporate structure
The Icecat group includes the Company (Icecat NV) and the subsidiaries Icecat LLC (Icecat Ukraine), Icecat Content Sourcing OÜ (Icecat Estonia), Iceshop BV, Syndy BV, Icecat Nederland BV and Icecat International BV. The cost centers Icecat Ukraine and Icecat Estonia are responsible for hiring editor and software developer capacity. Syndy and Iceshop provide related cloud solutions to retailers and brands. Participation Hatch BV provides Where To Buy solutions to manufacturers, i.e. smart “Buy Now” buttons that ensure that manufacturers' websites generate measurable sales through their online resellers.
Entrepreneurs
Icecat's board has a track record of achieving rapid growth combined with positive cash flow and profits, carefully considering the ROI (Return on Investment) of expenditure.
CEO Martijn Hoogeveen
Martijn Hoogeveen is general manager and founder of Icecat since 2001. He got the idea for Icecat from previous e-tail and e-business companies that he set up, where good and consumer-oriented product information was necessary. The former multimedia/e-commerce professor is the driving force behind Icecat's innovation and global expansion. Through his investment companies Netvalue and iMerge, he has 18 years of experience in managing fast-growing tech companies, portfolio management, and mergers and acquisitions, which will be useful in Icecat's rapid growth.
MD Emre Tan Altinok
Responsible for international sales and involved with Icecat since 2008. He obtained his master's degree in International Finance & Economics from the University of Amsterdam, and has successively proven himself within Icecat as effective sales for the German and Turkish markets, product manager Full Icecat, and finally as a team builder par excellence. Relevant experiences include risk management at PWC and sales at IBM.
Reasons for IPO
Icecat is going public to attract new capital to finance the further growth and development of Icecat.
The company has ambitious growth plans
- Further developing product catalogs for new sectors
- The strengthening of Icecat's sales offices
- Investments in Icecat's software platform and content syndication infrastructure
- Acquisition of local competitors
Risks and certainties
Investing always involves risks. For the complete risk analysis, we refer you to the prospectus .
The Issuer's Depository Receipts have not been and will not be registered under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or under any applicable being an exception to, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements under the Securities Act and in accordance with applicable securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States. The Issuer expressly does not intend to offer the Share Certificates to the investing public in the United States or in any other jurisdiction than the Netherlands.
