Cathay Capital acquires minority stake in SNOCKS, a Germany-based leading digital-native basic apparel brand
April 5, 2022
Europe
Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Mannheim (Germany), SNOCKS has imposed itself as the leading, digital-native D2C basic apparel brand in DACH in a context of growing consumer trends towards sustainable and comfortable clothing. SNOCKS offers a full range of high-quality functional clothing products with basic design at fair pricing. These include socks, underwear as well as sports clothing items for men and women. Its team is characterized by a strong entrepreneurial mindset and is composed of over 60 high-level professionals specialized in product & creative design, marketing & sales, supply chain, and customer service excellence.
SNOCKS benefits from a state-of-the-art online shop and has established itself as a category leader on most relevant marketplaces including Amazon, Otto, Zalando and About You, thanks to a growing and loyal customer base which values its quality customer experience and the community feel generated by the company. In 2019, SNOCKS has even been selected as Amazon’s Sales Partner of the Year.
The fast-growing startup also showed a sustained average annual growth rate of over 100% over the past three years resulting in € 32 million in revenues in 2021 and benefited from a strong momentum in 2022, with monthly sales up +70% year-on-year.
With the support of Cathay Capital and a significant investment into the company’s business operations, SNOCKS is looking to accelerate its international expansion in Western Europe, particularly in France and countries such as Spain, Italy and the Nordics. In addition, the company not only plans on diversifying its sales channels via its online shop, but also through further established and new third-party marketplaces in DACH and beyond. Moreover, the company ambitions to step up organic growth by extending its current product offering and increasing its focus on customer group diversification, after the successful launch of its female line in 2021.
Johannes Kliesch and Felix Bauer, Managing Directors and Co-Founders of SNOCKS declared: “We are very proud of all that SNOCKS has accomplished until now as an independent startup and we are convinced that we have found in Cathay Capital the ideal partner to bring our business to new heights. We believe that we can strongly benefit from their proven track record and international network in the field, and we are impatient to work alongside their teams to reach the next level.”
Fabien Wesse, Managing Partner at Cathay Capital, added: “We are very happy to support SNOCKS’ teams and management in their ambition to develop across borders and expand on an organic level. The company benefits from a strong business model and brilliant team of experts that have demonstrated best-in-class online expertise, combined with marketing excellence over the years. We believe that our expertise on scaling consumer brands internationally will prove useful and we are delighted to contribute to making SNOCKS an even bigger success story.”
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About SNOCKS
SNOCKS is a socks and underwear label. The founders, the two cousins Johannes Kliesch and Felix Bauer, started selling sneaker socks on Amazon in 2016 while still students. In 2021, their start-up SNOCKS has a turnover of 32 million euros, employs over 60 people, has over 5 million users in its own online store in Germany, sells across Europe via Amazon, and the SNOCKS group has over 150,000 followers on social media.
Press contact:
Vera Vaubel – [email protected] – +49 160-8472068
About Cathay Capital
Cathay Capital Group is a global investment firm supporting companies at all stages throughout North America, Asia, Europe and Africa. By helping navigate the opportunities of globalization and sustainable transformation, Cathay is the partner of choice for companies aspiring to lead markets and make a positive impact. Its global platform connects people – from investors and entrepreneurs to management teams and leading corporations – across continents to share knowledge, the tools to scale, and achieve the extraordinary. Founded in 2007 with a strong entrepreneurial heritage, Cathay Capital now manages more than $4.2 billion in assets, has completed over 220 investments with the global reach and local expertise of its offices in Paris, Munich, New York, San Francisco, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Beijing and Singapore.
Press contacts:
Yoann Besse – [email protected] – + 33 6 63 03 84 91
Léa Schultz – [email protected] – +33 7 57 52 06 05