Levanta Buys Perch+ // The $15B Amazon Aggregator Shakeout Has a Silver Lining for Creators

By Chris Erwin

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Let’s break it down…

–SELLER: PERCH+ (Infinite Commerce / Razor Group)–

Overview

• Amazon-focused affiliate network connecting sellers with publishers and content creators

• One of the earliest dedicated Amazon affiliate platforms; let sellers build direct creator partnerships outside Amazon Associates

• Launched in 2022 as an in-house program at Perch, a Boston-based Amazon FBA aggregator

• Moved to Razor Group (Berlin) via the March 2024 acquisition of Perch; then to the Razor / Infinite Commerce combined entity after their August 2025 merger

• Jason Baer, CMO at Infinite Commerce, oversaw Perch+ at time of sale

• HQ in Boston (Perch origin); Seattle/Berlin post-mergers

Company Highlights

• Hundreds of Amazon sellers and publishers in the network at time of sale

• 100+ affiliate partners at Perch+ launch in 2022, including major publishers and Amazon A-List livestreamers

• $908M total raised by parent Perch across 3 rounds from Spark Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund, and others

• $775M Series C closed in May 2021 at ~$1B valuation

• $1.7B combined valuation when Razor Group acquired Perch in March 2024

• $350M+ in annual sales across the current Razor / Infinite Commerce parent entity

Founding Story

• 2019: Perch founded in Boston by Chris Bell as an Amazon FBA aggregator

• 2022: Perch launches Perch+, an in-house affiliate marketing program to drive external traffic to its portfolio brands on Amazon

• Mar 2024: Razor Group (Berlin) acquires Perch for a combined $1.7B valuation; Perch+ moves under Razor

• Aug 2025: Razor merges with Infinite Commerce to form the largest FBA aggregator globally; Perch+ now sits inside the combined entity

• Apr 2026: Razor/Infinite Commerce divests Perch+ to Levanta

Business Model & Services

• Amazon Affiliate Network…

• Marketplace connecting Amazon sellers directly with affiliate publishers and creators

• Sellers set custom commission rates outside Amazon Associates

• Industry commission rates on networks like Perch+ typically run 15–30% on average, vs. 1–10% on Amazon Associates — the spread is what attracts premium creators

• Amazon-specific tracking and attribution tools to measure external traffic impact on seller sales

• Creator & Publisher Partnerships…

• Vetted network of publishers and creators promoting Amazon listings via content, reviews, and social

• Performance-based model — creators earn commissions on verified sales, not flat fees

Select Capital Markets History

Note: Perch+ launched in 2022 as an in-house product of Perch, the Boston-based Amazon FBA aggregator. The funding history below reflects Perch (the parent) pre-acquisition.

• Apr 2026: Perch+ divested to Levanta (terms undisclosed)

• Aug 2025: Razor Group merges with Infinite Commerce; Perch+ sits inside combined entity

• Mar 2024: Razor Group acquires Perch in all-stock deal at $1.7B combined valuation

• May 2021: Perch raises $775M Series C, led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 at ~$1B valuation

• Apr 2020: Perch raises $8M Series A, led by Spark Capital

• 2019: Perch founded in Boston by Chris Bell

–BUYER: LEVANTA–

Overview

• Unified affiliate and creator marketing platform for brands on Amazon, Shopify, and Walmart

• End-to-end partnership management — creator discovery to commission payout — in one system

• AI-powered Creator Marketplace with 60,000+ vetted publishers, influencers, and affiliates

• Co-founded in 2023 by Ian Brodie (CEO), Rob Schab (CMO), and Spencer McKenney (CTO)

• HQ in Seattle, WA

• 51–100 employees

Company Highlights

• 60,000+ vetted creators and publishers in the marketplace

• $286M in annualized GMV generated for sellers (based on late 2024 run rate)

• $21.4M raised across 3 rounds

• $3M+ ARR within 12 months of launch

• 60% YoY growth as of 2026

• Clients include HexClad, Kitsch, MaryRuth, Caraway, and MANSCAPED

• Live in 5 Amazon markets: US, UK, Canada, France, Germany

Founding Story

• 2020: Brodie, Schab, and McKenney launch Grovia, an affiliate recruitment services company — validated via Fiverr gigs that drew 100+ responses in days

• Grow Grovia to ~26 employees and 7-figure revenue, but struggle to convert services into SaaS

• May 2022: Grovia acquired by Acceleration Partners; most employees stay post-deal

• Post-acquisition, team identifies the gap: Amazon sellers can't own their own affiliate relationships, set custom commissions, or recruit specific creators

• Mar 2023: Launch Levanta to fill the gap — hit $230K MRR, 650+ brands, and 2,500+ affiliates within 9 months

• Nov 2024: Close $20M Series A from Volition Capital

Business Model & Services

• Creator & Affiliate Marketplace…

• Two-sided marketplace — brands import catalogs from Amazon, Shopify, or Walmart, set custom commissions (industry avg 15–30%), and recruit 60,000+ vetted partners directly

• AI-powered matching and discovery at scale

• Paid Placements…

• Launched 2026 — flat-rate creator deals with affiliate-level performance measurement, bridging influencer (pay-per-post) and affiliate (pay-per-sale)

• Product Seeding & Sampling…

• Automated product sampling ships physical goods to creators for review and content creation

• Attribution & Tracking…

• Native integration with Amazon Attribution and Creator Connections — gives sellers external traffic visibility Amazon Associates doesn't provide

• Cross-platform tracking across Amazon, Shopify, and Walmart in one dashboard

• Commission Management & Payouts…

• Centralized commission management, automated creator payouts, flexible incentive structures across channels

Select Capital Markets History

• Nov 2024: $20M Series A led by Volition Capital at undisclosed valuation

• 2023: Seed round (undisclosed)

• Late 2022: Pre-seed round (undisclosed)

–DEAL DETAILS–

Overview

• Announced April 6, 2026

• Levanta acquired the Perch+ affiliate network (sellers and publisher partners)

• Perch+ sellers and creators can access Levanta's platform immediately

• Levanta's first acquisition

• Terms undisclosed

Strategic Rationale

• Marketplace density is the moat. Levanta runs a two-sided marketplace — more sellers attract more creators and vice versa. Acquiring Perch+'s established network accelerates both sides at once, which is notoriously hard to do organically for a Series A company.

• Buying distribution in a distressed ecosystem. Perch+ sat inside the Razor / Infinite Commerce combined entity, formed from a 2025 merger amid an industry-wide aggregator shakeout. With Thrasio having emerged from Chapter 11 and lenders like BlackRock marking down aggregator debt, parents have been shedding non-core assets. Classic buy-low window for Levanta.

• Multi-channel unification is the product thesis. Levanta expanded beyond Amazon in 2026 to support Shopify and Walmart. Perch+'s Amazon-focused sellers feed the cross-platform strategy — brands that start on Amazon can extend to other channels without switching tools.

• Closing the gap between affiliate and creator marketing. Levanta's Paid Placements feature (flat-rate deals with affiliate-level measurement) positions the company at the intersection of performance marketing and brand marketing. Perch+'s seller base accelerates that positioning — more Amazon brands on the platform means more volume to prove the model works.

• From Perch+'s perspective, divesting lets the Razor / Infinite Commerce parent focus on owning and operating Amazon brands rather than maintaining an adjacent affiliate platform. Jason Baer (CMO, Infinite Commerce) framed it as handing the network to a team better positioned to scale it.

• Quote from Ian Brodie (CEO & Co-Founder, Levanta): “Perch+ built meaningful traction with Amazon sellers early on when very few affiliate platforms were focused on their needs. By bringing this network into Levanta, we're expanding opportunity on both sides of the marketplace — more brands for creators, and more creator-driven growth for brands."

Post-Deal Operations

• Perch+ brand absorbed into Levanta's marketplace; no longer operates separately

• Perch+ sellers and creators live on Levanta's platform as of announcement

• Sellers gain Levanta's full toolkit: 60,000+ vetted partners, Paid Placements, Product Seeding, Amazon Attribution, Creator Connections

• Creators gain a larger brand roster, improved tracking, faster payouts, and centralized partnership management

–WHAT ELSE I FIND INTERESTING–

First, a Primer: How Affiliate Networks Work and Why They're Changing

For readers new to affiliate: a brand wants sales, a creator has an audience, and an affiliate network sits in the middle — tracking clicks, attributing sales, and paying commissions. Networks exist because managing 500 creator relationships directly is operationally painful, and because tracking across TikTok, Amazon, Shopify, and YouTube in one unified view requires real tech.

Historically, brands ran 3-5 programs in parallel: platform-native programs (Amazon Associates, TikTok Shop) for on-platform tracking, plus a third-party network (Levanta, ShopMy, Later, LTK) for cross-platform reporting. It's a mess, and the market is consolidating toward a hub-and-spoke model — one cross-platform network as the primary workflow, with platform-native programs running underneath via API integration.

The winners are the ones with real tech: deep platform integrations, proprietary attribution, unified dashboards. Those command SaaS multiples (4-8x revenue). Networks that are account managers with spreadsheets command services multiples (3-7x EBITDA). That gap is the whole M&A story in this space.

The Commission Arbitrage That Makes These Networks Work

Amazon Associates pays creators 1–10% depending on category. Most land at 1–4%. Platforms like Levanta pay creators ~20% on average, sometimes up to 50%. That 5–10x spread is the entire reason Perch+ and Levanta exist.

Why the gap? 

Sellers will pay more for direct relationships with creators they pick, targeted at their specific products, with real attribution data. Amazon Associates is one-size-fits-all with opaque tracking. Third-party networks let sellers trade higher commissions for better creators and better data.

For Amazon sellers fighting rising ad costs and PPC saturation, paying 20% to a creator who brings in a net-new customer often beats paying Amazon 15–20% for a sponsored product placement that just steals existing demand.

The Amazon Aggregator Shakeout Is Creating a Buyer's Market for Creator Infrastructure

Between 2020 and 2023, Amazon aggregators raised an estimated $15B+ in combined funding. Thrasio alone raised over $3B. Perch (parent of Perch+)  raised $908M. The thesis was simple: buy third-party Amazon brands, optimize operations, scale.

Then interest rates rose, e-commerce growth plateaued, and the model buckled. Thrasio filed Chapter 11. Benitago went under. BlackRock marked down aggregator debt. Razor Group, Infinite Commerce, and others merged out of necessity as much as strategy.

In this environment, non-core assets get sold. Perch+ was one of them. 

For a well-capitalized startup like Levanta — $21M raised, 60% growth, clear product-market fit — this is the M&A equivalent of buying distressed real estate in a down market. When an industry shakes out, the infrastructure layers often end up in stronger hands.

Where Capital Is Going: Creator-Led Affiliate Is the Hot Sector

We've been writing about this trend for over a year. A quick tracker of recent deals in creator-affiliate infrastructure:

• Apr 2026: Levanta acquires Perch+ (this deal) — cross-platform affiliate network absorbing an Amazon-focused network to scale marketplace density

• Mar 2026: Growth Catalyst Partners merges Orca and Sapphire Studios into Third — PE-backed roll-up of two social commerce agencies spanning TikTok Shop, Whatnot, Snap, Meta, and eBay Live. Combined entity explicitly covers creator and affiliate commerce services. Signal: PE is rolling up the services layer (agencies running affiliate campaigns) alongside the tech layer

• Oct 2025: ShopMy raises $70M at $1.5B valuation — creator affiliate platform (product recommendations → trackable links → commissions) tripled its valuation from $410M in 9 months; $147.5M raised total in 2025 (our Series B analysis). Signal: incumbent LTK (150K+ creators, $6B annual sales) is cutting staff and shifting to a free self-serve model in response

• Jun 2025: Dotdigital acquires Social Snowball for $35M (~6.7x revenue) — creator-focused affiliate and referral platform for Shopify brands (our analysis). Signal: premium multiples for pure-play affiliate tech

• May 2025: Publicis acquires Captiv8 for ~$150M (our analysis) — influencer marketing platform that explicitly bundles affiliate capabilities (affiliate discovery and recruitment, shoppable storefronts, creator payouts). Signal: Publicis' third creator marketing deal in 18 months (after Influential and BR Media Group), totaling $800M+ in creator-focused M&A

• Jan 2025: Later acquires Mavely for $250M (our analysis) — influencer marketing platform acquires an "everyday influencer" affiliate network (120K+ creators, $1B+ GMV). Part of Summit Partners' ~$500M total investment across Mavrck / Later / Mavely to build a full-funnel creator commerce platform

• Jul 2023: Pantastic Networks acquires Refersion (terms undisclosed) — e-commerce tech company absorbs one of the largest pure-play affiliate management platforms (used by thousands of Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce brands). Early signal of affiliate infrastructure consolidation

The throughline: capital is flowing across the entire creator-affiliate stack — from pure-play tech platforms (ShopMy, Levanta, Social Snowball) to services-layer agencies (Third) to hybrid platforms bridging influencer and affiliate (Mavely, Captiv8). Buyers and investors are paying premium multiples for businesses that own real creator and seller relationships, generate first-party performance data, and sit at the intersection of influencer spend and measurable sales. The sector is maturing fast — and the range of buyer types tells you this isn't a single-thesis trend.

Our clients are riding this exact wave. 

We're currently running a sell-side process for a creator marketing tech company that integrates into retailer websites to power shoppable storefronts for sales associates — a direct bet on the convergence of retail, creator content, and affiliate attribution. Email chris @ wearerockwater . com if you want to learn more

Second-Time Founders, Same Playbook — But Bigger

Levanta is a case study in how prior exits compound into better outcomes. Brodie, Schab, and McKenney built Grovia as an affiliate recruitment services business from 2020-2022. They grew it to 7-figure revenue and ~26 employees, couldn't crack the SaaS transition, and sold to Acceleration Partners in May 2022.

Most founders take a break after an exit. This team took the opposite approach — they identified the specific gap they'd discovered while working at the acquirer (Amazon sellers can't own their own affiliate relationships), raised a pre-seed, and launched Levanta within months.

The speed to product-market fit is striking. $230K MRR within 9 months of launch. $3M+ ARR within 12 months. $20M Series A from Volition Capital a year later. That velocity isn't luck — it's deep domain expertise, an existing network of relationships, and the credibility from having built and sold a company in the same space.

For founders reading this: exits aren't just financial outcomes — they accelerate your next company. Where you sell, who acquires you, and what you learn during integration all shape what comes next. The Levanta team didn't start from zero. They started from everything they learned at Grovia and Acceleration Partners, applied to a problem they'd seen firsthand.

This is also why, when we advise founders on sell-side M&A at RockWater, we emphasize thinking about exits as strategic career moves, not just payday events.

I'm the founder of RockWater. We do M&A and strategy advisory for creator economy and social / audio agencies. From buy and sell-side M&A to valuation diagnostics and go-to-market planning. 

DM me on LinkedIn or email [email protected]

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