Rocket Internet

Rocket Internet SE is a German internet company headquartered in Berlin that builds and backs startups. Its model is usually called a startup studio or venture builder: it launches companies on proven internet business models, houses new ventures at its Berlin headquarters with IT, marketing and investor access, and holds shareholdings in a wide network of operating companies. It was founded in Berlin in 2007 by the brothers Marc, Oliver and Alexander Samwer, and in 2008 founded the fashion retailer Zalando. The company changed its legal form to an AG in 2014 and to a European company (SE) in 2015, floated on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in October 2014, and announced its delisting in September 2020. Its venture capital arm is Global Founders Capital. The company has been criticised for its copycat strategy of replicating established business models, and for backing competing companies in one sector.