Boxed knocks up $900m reverse merger

Boxed, a US-based online grocery platform developer backed by corporates American Express and Aeon, agreed to a reverse merger with special purpose acquisition company Seven Oaks Acquisition Corp yesterday.

The merged company will retain the Boxed brand and is set to be valued at approximately $900m. It will assume Seven Oaks’ listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market, which it acquired through a $259m initial public offering in December 2020.

The deal will be supported by a $120m private placement comprised of common stock and convertible notes that is backed by Brigade Capital Management, Avanda Investment Management and Onex Credit.

Founded in 2013, Boxed operates an e-commerce platform that enables consumers and businesses to buy consumable products such as toiletries and cleaning products in bulk. It recently launched a software-as-service (SaaS) platform and secured a SaaS partnership agreement with Aeon in January this year.

Following the close of the deal, Chieh Huang, chief executive officer of Boxed will remain in his position while Gary Matthews, CEO and chairman of Seven Oaks, will become chairman of the combined company’s board.

Huang said: “This transaction will allow Boxed to capitalise on the tailwinds that e-commerce businesses are experiencing. This capital will also allow us to fund [business-to-business] growth, third-party marketplace expansion and drive our unique SaaS business.”

Retail group Aeon led a $111m round for Boxed in 2018 that also featured holding company China Development Financial’s CDIB Capital unit, family office Alpha Square Group and private investor Gabriel Naouri.

American Express Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of payment services firm American Express, supplied an undisclosed amount of funding for Boxed in 2016. It had raised $100m of series C funding four months earlier from Light Street Capital, Safa Partners and unspecified existing investors.

GGV Capital and partners of DST Global co-led the company’s $25m series B round, which also featured AME Cloud Ventures, Founders Fund, First Round Capital, Vaizra Investments, Greycroft and Signia Venture Partners, in 2015.

Boxed had previously received at least $7.6m from investors including Greycroft, First Round, Signia, Eniac Ventures, Social Starts, Box Group and individuals such as David Ko.