Summary The gross proceeds amounted to 588.5 million euros ($672 million).
FRANCFORT (AFP) - German start-up incubator Rocket Internet said Friday it has raised nearly 590 million euros in fresh capital to invest in further expansion.
The start-up platform, which went public last year, said in a statement it has issued 12 million new shares and placed them privately at a price of 49 euros with institutional investors.
The gross proceeds amounted to 588.5 million euros ($672 million), which Rocket Internet "intends to use ... in pursuit of its strategic goals," the statement said.
"Rocket will continue building new companies, increase its ownership in existing companies and invest in new opportunities as well as build out its proprietary operational platform," it said.
Rocket Internet aims to be Germany s answer to US giants Amazon and eBay and China s Alibaba and owns a range of businesses worldwide in e-commerce, online retail and Internet-based payment systems.
The Berlin-based tech incubator founded in 2007 and run by the brothers Oliver, Marc and Alexander Samwer fully or partially owns 66 companies in more than 100 countries, many of them emerging economies, with about 20,000 employees.
It went public with an initial public offering last October and said Friday it has invested approximately 1.0 billion euros since then.
