✦ EComVault
Insights, deal breakdowns, and founder stories from the EComVault community.
A practical guide to finding verified DTC brands for sale — where to look, how to evaluate them before the first call, and how to close without a broker.
From valuation to close — a step-by-step guide for DTC founders who want to sell their Shopify brand for maximum value without paying broker commission.
More capital is chasing e-commerce acquisitions than ever before. Most first-time buyers make the same avoidable mistakes. This is the complete playbook for finding, evaluating, and closing a deal.
A practical guide for angels, family offices, and PE buyers looking to invest in DTC brands — including how to find verified opportunities, what to pay, and how the deal structures work.
After the 2021 multiple peak and the 2022 correction, the DTC M&A market has found a new equilibrium. Here's where deal volume is concentrating, what multiples have settled at, and where the best opportunities are.
Revenue multiples have compressed since the 2021 peak. Here's what acquirers are actually paying for verified DTC brands in 2025, broken down by category and growth stage.
Most buyers focus on headline revenue. The ones who get burned only focused on headline revenue. Here are the 14 areas every serious acquirer must verify before closing a DTC deal.
4x revenue and 4x EBITDA are completely different numbers for a DTC brand. Understanding which framework applies — and when to use both — is essential before making any acquisition offer.
Health and wellness is the most sought-after category in DTC acquisitions. Here's why the premiums exist, which sub-categories trade highest, and what separates a great wellness brand from an overpriced one.
Shopify's read-only API gives acquirers access to three years of verified order data. Here's exactly what that data reveals, what it can't tell you, and how to use it to make a smarter acquisition decision.
The Amazon aggregator model imploded spectacularly. The DTC rollup model that's emerging to replace it looks very different. Here's how it works, who's building it, and what the investment thesis is.
Every deal looks good in the teaser deck. Here are the five signals that the business underneath is weaker than it appears — and exactly how to find them before you commit capital.
Founders who prepare 12 months in advance consistently achieve 30–40% higher multiples than those who sell reactively. Here's the complete playbook for maximising your exit from a DTC brand.
The purchase price is just one number. The deal structure is what determines whether an acquisition actually delivers the returns it promises. Here's a complete breakdown of how a $2M DTC deal gets structured.
Each platform attracts different buyers, sellers, and deal sizes. Choosing the wrong marketplace as a buyer or seller can cost you multiple points on the final number. Here's the honest comparison.
Not all DTC categories are created equal for acquirers. Based on verified deal data, here are the categories generating the strongest risk-adjusted returns — and the ones to avoid.
Shopify's OAuth API gives read-only access to every order in a store's history. Here's exactly how verification works, what it reveals, what it misses, and why it should be the standard for every DTC acquisition.
The best DTC acquisitions rarely start with a marketplace listing. Here's how sophisticated acquirers build deal flow before brands go public — and how to make the first approach.
Most DTC brands that successfully exit do so between years three and six. The path from product-market fit to acquisition has a predictable shape — and knowing that shape helps both founders and acquirers make better decisions.
A portfolio of three to five verified DTC brands has historically outperformed the S&P 500 on a total return basis. Here's the honest comparison — including the risks that standard return data doesn't capture.
Between 2017 and 2022, over $15 billion was invested in DTC brands. Most of that capital is gone. Here's what went wrong, which brands survived, and what the wreckage means for acquirers today.
Studies consistently show that 20–30% of e-commerce listings misrepresent revenue in some material way. Here's how to verify what you're actually buying before you commit capital.
Before you sign an LOI, you need honest, verifiable answers to these seven questions. Each one corresponds to a category of acquisition risk that's destroyed returns for buyers who skipped the conversation.