Oliver Samwer

Rocket Internet's origin: clone eBay at 22, sell for $50M in 90 days

Sam recounts how Ali Samwer, after a month at Stanford, cloned eBay at age 22 and sold it for $50 million within 90 days, used the proceeds to clone a ringtone company (sold for $200-300M), then rolled the winnings into the Berlin-based clone factory Rocket Internet, which copied US startups worldwide.

“When he was 22, he cloned eBay. In 90 days, they sold it for $50 million. I believe they used that money to clone a ringtone company, sold that after 3 years, maybe for $200 or $300 million. And then they used all their winnings to turn it into a clone factory called Rocket Internet.”