AccrueMe Has $100 Million to Invest in Amazon FBA Businesses

As successful Amazon sellers know, once you become a profitable merchant, the next challenge is growing your business – but scaling takes capital.

Acquiring growth capital through banks or alternative financing sources comes with significant restrictions. The burdens of monthly payments, high interest rates and ownership loss can slow business growth and leave you feeling like you’ve lost your independence.

This is the problem that AccrueMe aims to solve with its innovative growth capital program. They offer capital to qualified sellers without interest, fixed payments, or loss of ownership in your business. AccrueMe becomes your temporary partner, offering capital, business tools, and consulting to help grow your business in exchange for a small share of the profits. Once the capital and profit share is repaid, they’re out – so they only make money when you do.

Could this be the capital financing solution that Amazon sellers have been waiting for? Let’s dive in and find out.

How did AccrueMe get into funding Amazon sellers?

AccrueMe was founded by Don Henig and Eric Kotch, who have known each other for twenty years in the New York mortgage industry. After they left the mortgage business, they got together to brainstorm new opportunities. Recognizing that Amazon is “taking over the world”, they decided to create a business to help successful third-party sellers grow.

They realized that third-party sellers are small entrepreneurs with a universal problem: the need for growth capital. After examining the existing sources of capital for sellers, they concluded that they were lacking. Why should the seller hand over a cut of sales before they even make a profit? Why should they sell their business for a cut-price rate when it’s just about to take off?

Don and Eric decided to create a better solution – one that would be a win for both parties. It had to be good for the seller as well as profitable for themselves.

Their innovative solution: partnering with sellers as temporary investors and sharing in their success. Research showed that the current financing options had onerous payments and terms, so they went in the other direction. So no credit report, no personal guarantees, no required payments, no profit share in the first 30 days, and no long-term commitment.

Don and Eric ran financial models from the seller’s perspective to determine if a seller could grow faster and more profitably with their method than they could with any other form of capital infusion. The models said “yes” and AccrueMe was born.

How does AccrueMe work?

AccrueMe provides growth capital to successful Amazon sellers. This capital can be used for inventory purchase, accounts payable, storage, shipping – whatever a seller needs to grow their business. They will match a seller’s capital up to $1,000,000 in exchange for a temporary profit share in the business. AccrueMe will not invest more than the seller has invested themselves, so essentially they are willing to put up as much as 50% of the total capital in the business.

AccrueMe relies on the seller’s ability to make a profit. If the seller doesn’t generate a profit, or even worse, loses money, then AccrueMe makes no money. There is no interest, fees, required monthly payments, or any permanent loss of equity in the seller’s business.

In return, AccrueMe takes a temporary share of the net profits. The profit share percentage is equal to half the percentage of the capital AccrueMe is contributing to the total capital in the business (there’s a detailed example later). Sellers may opt out after 6 months if they no longer need the money, and have repaid the capital investment and required profit share.

In addition to growth capital, AccrueMe offers sellers numerical analysis, consulting, and mentorship to help them maximize their profits. Their proprietary software used to evaluate and monitor investments is available to their seller partners. It’s useful in making inventory purchase decisions, and in developing seller inventory portfolios for maximum profit. The AccrueMe team also has extensive Amazon business and entrepreneurial experience to share with sellers.

What kind of Amazon sellers use AccrueMe?

In order to minimize risk on its investment, AccrueMe sets some criteria for its Amazon seller partners:

• Successful, profitable Amazon seller for at least six months
• Solid performance metrics and in good standing with Amazon
• Have at least $10,000 invested in the business
• Selling on Amazon US (but can be located anywhere)

By partnering with experienced, vetted sellers, AccrueMe is staying true to its win-win philosophy. But an infusion of capital to the right seller can make a dramatic difference.

Consider this example:

• AccrueMe invested $25,000 in an Amazon Seller in Q2 of 2019 (equaling the seller’s capital)
• In Q2 of 2019, the Amazon Seller generated $51,532.42 in revenue and $4,986.27 in net profit.
• In Q2 of 2020, the Amazon Seller generated $224,153.58 in revenue and $41,733.87 in net profit.

That’s four times revenue growth and eight times profit growth in one year. Even after AccrueMe was repaid, this seller is still earning six times more profit than they were the year before – without AccrueMe’s involvement. These are the results of the seller having an existing profitable business model, great suppliers, great products, and (with the added capital) the ability to buy more inventory and grow rapidly.

How much does AccrueMe cost exactly?

AccrueMe asks for their initial investment back, plus a percentage of the net profits during the time a seller is using AccrueMe’s money. The profit share percentage is between 5% and 25% – equal to half the percentage of the capital AccrueMe has put into the business.

If you reinvest the profits and grow your capital in the business, then the amount AccrueMe has invested will become a smaller percentage of the total, and the profit share percentage will get lower and lower. (Or, you can just stop using AccrueMe’s money, and keep 100% of your profits.)

The seller continues to run the business and is responsible for all the usual requirements, such as collecting, filing and paying sales taxes. As a profit sharing agreement, there is no interest, fees, monthly payments, or permanent percentage of ownership taken.

Sellers have the option to pay AccrueMe back any amount they wish at the end of a month, or simply keep the capital invested in their business to continue increasing profits. AccrueMe will also contribute more funding when asked, as long as it is used to buy more inventory.

A detailed example

Say you have $100,000 invested in your Amazon business. Then AccrueMe provides another $100,000 to bring the total capital to $200,000 (50% comes from AccrueMe). AccrueMe’s share is 25% (half of 50%) of your profits, but only until you pay back the initial investment and the accrued profit share.

So, imagine that you are making a 20% ROI (you make $120 in revenue for every $100 you spend). That means if you are spending $100,000 a month, you earn $120,000 in revenue for a $20,000 profit.

AccrueMe invested $100,000, so you are now spending $200,000 a month to earn $240,000 in revenue and a $40,000 profit. You can choose to pay AccrueMe its 25% share of the profit ($10,000) and still walk away with a $30,000 monthly profit. Over the course of a year, that increase from $20,000 to $30,000 per month means you would become $120,000 richer by using AccrueMe.

But many sellers choose to keep their profits invested in the business, which has two big benefits. First, you can use the capital to grow your business further by researching new products, investing in marketing or simply buying more stock. The second benefit is that, as you increase your capital in the business, the total capital will grow larger and AccrueMe’s share of the capital and profits will get lower and lower.

Reinvesting your profits

Let’s continue the example, and see how it looks when you reinvest your profits. You take that $40,000 profit from your first month and invest it right back into your business (remember, you don’t have to make any payments to AccrueMe until you want to). You now have capital of $240,000 in the business, and with a 20% ROI you can use that to generate $48,000 in profit in the second month.

If you put that money back in again, then your third month will see capital of $288,000 and profit of $57,600, based on the same ROI. Now your own capital has grown, and the $100,000 that AccrueMe originally invested makes up around 35% of the total capital instead of 50%. As a result, AccrueMe’s profit share goes down from 25% to 17.5%. By month six, even if you start paying out AccrueMe’s share, your personal monthly profits will have gone from the $20,000 range to well over $50,000.

AccrueMe has a calculator on its website that allows you to adjust for your working capital, the capital you are requesting from AccrueMe, your ROI, turnaround time, and even the amount you want to withdraw each month for your own personal lifestyle. Here’s one of the charts it generates to help show the effect of the investment:

As you will see from the calculator, the difference can add up to millions of dollars within just a couple years.

How is AccrueMe different to other funding providers?

Firstly, AccrueMe offers real growth capital. Other sources of funding for Amazon sellers involve advances on Amazon payouts (paid back with interest), standard loans, or giving up a piece of your business permanently.

An investment from AccrueMe is a temporary arrangement. Sellers can pay back AccrueMe at any time – or continue the relationship as long as the capital is needed. Once the investment and profit share is repaid, the relationship with AccrueMe is over.

AccrueMe also does not require credit checks or personal guarantees. They have their own criteria for potential partners that allow them to partner with sellers without these elements.

Finally, unlike other sources of funding, AccrueMe is invested in seller success. This is why they offer support and guidance above and beyond just money. AccrueMe is a true partner with skin in the game.

How much does AccrueMe have available to invest?

As of August 25, 2020, AccrueMe has committed to providing a total of $100 million in growth capital to Amazon sellers, so there’s plenty of opportunity.

Their ultimate goal is to become the preferred source of capital for Amazon sellers who want to scale their business. In the future, they hope to expand to other platforms, but for now, the focus is on growing Amazon businesses.

Are you ready for an investment partner?

Accrue me offers a unique arrangement for Amazon sellers seeking an infusion of growth capital with minimal strings attached. It’s a straightforward agreement, and free of interest, catches, credit checks, and other things that would frequently trip up a small business entrepreneur.

When it comes to getting investment in your Amazon business, having no required monthly payments and no loss of ownership are big considerations. Having a supportive and experienced team behind you for advice and analysis is also advantageous, especially to an individual seller.

If you meet the criteria to work with AccrueMe and are looking for a cash infusion to scale your successful Amazon business, AccrueMe is ready to work with you.

Find out more about having AccrueMe as an investment partner in your business

This article was sponsored by AccrueMe.