TradeInn, a global online sports equipment specialist, has announced a significant milestone in its growth trajectory. One of the Apollo Funds associated with the firm’s Hybrid Value franchise has acquired the minority stake in TradeInn Retail Services previously held by Suma Capital and other shareholders. 

This strategic transaction makes Apollo a shareholder in TradeInn, reinforcing the company's mission to become the leading online retailer of sports equipment in Europe.

TradeInn Strengthens Its Position with Apollo Partnership

The acquisition marks a new chapter in TradeInn's evolution. Founded and led by David Martin, who remains CEO and retains his equity stake, TradeInn is poised to benefit from Apollo’s resources and strategic expertise, thereby accelerating its international expansion.

“We are delighted to embark on the next chapter of our journey with Apollo, whose recognition of our potential and commitment to our vision will help propel TradeInn into its next phase of expansion,” said David Martin, CEO and founder of TradeInn.

From Suma Capital to Apollo: A Decade of Growth

Suma Capital, which acquired a 30% stake in TradeInn in 2015, has now fully exited its investment following a highly successful partnership. Under David Martin’s leadership, and with Suma Capital’s backing, TradeInn has grown its sales more than tenfold, expanded its product categories, and enhanced its logistics capabilities with over 30,000 square meters of storage space.

“As outgoing shareholders of TradeInn, we are very proud of the successful collaboration that has driven the company’s significant growth,” said Enrique Tombas, Managing Director of Suma Capital.

TradeInn by the Numbers

• €554 million in revenue in 2024
  
• 3.5+ million products available
  
• 12,500+ brands
  
• Presence in 190+ countries
  
• 85% of sales generated outside Spain
  
• 18 specialized sports categories
  

These figures underscore TradeInn’s status as a genuinely international e-commerce platform with substantial brand equity among sports and outdoor enthusiasts.

Apollo Sees Long-Term Potential

Apollo is optimistic about the role TradeInn will play in shaping the future of online sports retail in Europe and beyond.

“TradeInn has built a leading sports e-commerce company in Europe with a clear track record of strong, sustained growth,” said Javier Valle, Managing Director of Apollo’s Hybrid Value Fund.

Strategic Advisors and Legal Counsel

The transaction involved leading advisory and legal teams:

• Deutsche Bank acted as the exclusive financial advisor to the sellers.
  
• PwC and Auren provided legal and due diligence support.
  
• Linklaters and Lazard advised Apollo on the buy side.

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Decathlon is negotiating the acquisition of a majority stake in Tradeinn, the Spanish e-commerce giant Tradeinn, specializing in sports equipment, to strengthen its online sales strategy, according to Expansión and confirmed by Ecommerce News. In this way, Decathlon is approaching another pure national player in sports equipment. This operation would value the company at close to 1 billion euros.

Tradeinn, which has about twenty platforms specialized in different verticals, is controlled by the companies Didavid Management -owned by founder David Martín, and shareholders such as Dídac Lee-, which holds 70% of the capital, and Suma Capital, which holds the remaining 30% of the shares.

“Decathlon is one more interested party in the purchase of Suma Capital's shares, a process that began several months ago,” says David Martín, CEO and founder of Tradeinn. “For us, it is a source of pride that the leader of our sector wants to enter the company because it would bring much more than a financial partner,” adds the company's founder.

Similarly, David Martin confirms his intentions to remain in Tradeinn, maintaining a majority stake to continue managing the business: “I want to continue leading the company, I want to continue working to keep us as the number one.”

The deal, which also involves international funds interested in a minority stake, could close this July or in the first weeks of August.

Decathlon recently announced the creation of Decathlon Pulse, a wholly owned but independent subsidiary that will increase its investment in brands, retailers, and innovative businesses. Specifically, Decathlon Pulse has begun operating with 21 investments in its portfolio, in which the French group participates as a majority or minority shareholder.

The company closed fiscal 2023 with a 4.4% year-on-year revenue increase, at constant exchange rates. Adjusted for foreign exchange rates and the impact of the closure of its business in Russia, revenues grew by 1.15% to 16.9 billion dollars (15.618 billion euros). 

Decathlon is over a billion 

The French group posted a net income of just over 1 billion dollars (925 million euros), Forbes reported. During 2023, Decathlon sold a total of 1.19 billion items worldwide. Online sales accounted for 17.4% of the group's turnover in 2023, up 0.7% on the previous year.

On its side, Tradeinn expects to close 2024 with a turnover of 600 million euros, as its CEO David Martin recently advanced to CMD Sports. “We are very happy with how we are doing this 2024,” declared David Martín, specifying that during the first four months of the year, “we have grown by 21% compared to the same period last year.”

In this context, the CEO highlighted the sales dynamism registered by its Trekkinn, Bikeinn, Runnerinn and Snowinn verticals as the main drivers of sales in the first four months of the year, “something that already happened in the first four months of 2023”.

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TradeINN, a sports equipment and apparel e-commerce, has achieved a turnover of more than 500 million euros, representing a 15% growth compared to 2022. 

"2023 was a challenging year due to the global context. The increase, for example, in transport costs (which shot up by 40%) affected us, especially in markets outside Europe, where we had a 5% drop in turnover. However, we have compensated for this with sales in Europe," explains David Martin, CEO and founder of TradeInn, "The truth is that we are very satisfied with the final result, both in terms of turnover and company profits, which is 10% of turnover.

Rising transport costs and an alliance with Spring GDS

According to David Marting, rising transport costs have made specialized logistics companies even more important. "In this respect, we could highlight Spring GDS, with whom we have had a natural partnership for many years. We have jointly opened markets in remote countries, and we have also optimized lines closer to home in Europe. 

Emiliano Vidal, Managing Director of Spring GDS for Southern Europe, said: "Spring GDS is proud to be considered as a partner by TradeINN. We have achieved this thanks to the trust that David mentioned and the efforts of each one of us, so that if there are any difficulties, we can find a solution and prevent the chain from being affected". David Martín corroborates this. "We have experienced this during strikes, changes in marketplaces, or at times of sales peaks above forecasts: the operations teams are in permanent contact seven days a week. It is important to work with partners who keep up with us, with 24/7 operations. Consumers in the UK don't care if it's a holiday or not in Spain, they expect their purchase to be handled as quickly as possible.

Spring industry knowledge was instrumental a couple of years ago; Brexit created a lot of uncertainty in the e-commerce sector, especially regarding logistics. Spring offered us a solution that allowed us to continue selling from day one and to take advantage of this situation to continue growing in this market, as many e-commerce companies had stopped selling to the UK because they didn't know how to do it or didn't have a partner to accompany them through this change".

TradeINN is currently serving more than 20 million customers 

TradeInn currently serves more than 20 million customers in 150 countries, in both hemispheres and has 18 business verticals. This results in a high turnover in demand for different sports products, so there is no one time of the year when sales are far in excess of another but are steady, voluminous, and growing. 

"For example, the high temperatures of recent months have had an impact on product typology: winter sports gave way to other sales drivers such as cycling (BIkeinn), mountain sports (Trekinn), as well as the new vertical that embraces several disciplines (+Sports), such as golf or horse riding. And given the good performance they have had, we do not rule out the possibility of converting the latter into a specific vertical if these sports become very popular", says David Martín.

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