The clones race has become a war.

Quick reminder, if you’re new to the saga - a hot thing in Germany this fall was investing in aggregators of Amazon-based, small retailers. All of them are copying the model of an American company named Thrasio, which is market leader and also which was valued at $1 billion earlier this year.

And so there’s been companies launched and money raised - I known of at least 8-9 wannabes only in Germany, and of one notable from the UK (notable in the sense that they raised $65 million for it).

However. Compared to a decade ago when the Americans mainly ignored the Rocket Internet people blatantly copying their businesses, things escalated a bit this week.

Specifically Thrasio, the business which is being imitated, just acquired one of their clones from Germany, Thristii, and made it their European office. It says that they now have two offices in Germany, in Berlin and Dusseldorf, operating a $50 million local business.

Not only that, but they also published a press release saying that they put aside $225 million to complete acquisitions of German companies and explicitly stating their differentiators.

What distinguishes Thrasio from other purported acquirers is that we are committed to closing every term sheet we sign, have the ability to close quickly, and can operate a company in the Amazon ecosystem well enough to generate real earn-outs for German sellers. Thrasio's expanded market presence gives German entrepreneurs a much better option: working with the company that is the gold standard in the space (with nearly 100 deals closed), a company with a real track record, and industry-leading data and performance.

Quote of the president dude of Thrasio, no less.

They also do something very smart namely creating the rules of the war:

Thrasio purchases these category-leading brands for a typical purchase price of $1+ million, giving small business owners their hard-won payout.

“You get an offer lower than 1 mil? Come talk to us!”

Read the whole thing. The Yankees got pissed and Boston people are the feisty sort.

A somewhat virgin market has become all of a sudden a zero sum game, and not a friendly environment either. Kinda wondering how much this risk was accounted for.

I guess at least we really get to see if the formula “copy others + consultants + money” makes for successful entrepreneurs in Europe.

PS. The winner of the whole thing? Amazon.