{"id":637571,"date":"2026-04-01T15:01:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T13:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=637571"},"modified":"2026-04-01T15:03:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T13:03:13","slug":"two-europeans-built-a-south-african-e-commerce-giant-and-got-out-before-shein-and-temu-crushed-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/business\/637571-two-europeans-built-a-south-african-e-commerce-giant-and-got-out-before-shein-and-temu-crushed-it.html","title":{"rendered":"Two Europeans built a South African e-commerce giant and got out before Shein and Temu crushed it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 2011, two young men emigrated from Germany to Cape Town to launch Zando, an online fashion retailer in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manuel Koser and Peter Allerstorfer, together with two other co-founders, established and grew the company for Rocket Internet, a German venture-building company headquartered in Berlin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zando officially launched in January 2012 and shut down at the end of 2024, when its then-owner, Jumia Technologies, pulled out of South Africa, ostensibly to cut costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the real reason was that Zando and other local online clothing retailers were being crushed by two of China\u2019s top e-commerce exports, Temu and Shein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By then, Koser and Allerstorfer had left Zando behind, having founded Silvertree Brands, headquartered in Cape Town, to launch their own ventures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story of Manuel Koser and Peter Allerstorfer is a defining chapter in South African e-commerce, spanning the aggressive Rocket Internet\u2013era of the early 2010s to the current landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their partnership began far from Cape Town. Allerstorfer, an Austrian engineer who studied at Graz University of Technology, worked for McKinsey & Company on projects across Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Koser, a graduate of Maastricht University and Germany\u2019s state distance-learning institution, FernUniversit\u00e4t in Hagen, was at Boston Consulting Group. They met through a mutual friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the opportunity arose to build ventures in Africa for Rocket Internet, neither Allerstorfer nor Koser hesitated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In November 2011, the pair packed their bags and moved 13,500 kilometres to begin their journey as tech entrepreneurs in South Africa\u2019s Mother City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Zando launched, it was a pioneer in a market where online shopping was just taking off, with platforms like Kalahari and Takealot, which had just rebranded from Take2, jostling for position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time Zando was fully operational, it boasted over 550 brands and had expanded into footwear, apparel, and beauty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under Allerstorfer and Koser, Zando grew rapidly and set a high bar for logistics and customer service in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building an empire of their own<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Manuel Koser<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Allerstorfer later reflected that, while they had delivered an excellent company for their backers, he realised he had put immense work into someone else\u2019s empire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI stood there and saw all these things and realised I have put so much work into something that isn\u2019t really mine. That\u2019s when I realised it was time to build something on my own,\u201d he told Forbes in a 2016 interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April 2013, Manuel Koser resigned from Zando to co-found Silvertree Capital, now known as Silvertree Holdings, alongside Paul Cook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am a start-up enthusiast and miss the excitement and hectic environment of setting up a company from scratch,\u201d Koser said at the time. He remained a Zando shareholder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allerstorfer resigned later that year and joined them in November 2013. Silvertree was envisioned as a business builder and investment firm that would take a hands-on, long-term approach to startups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their portfolio grew to include brands like Faithful to Nature, UCOOK, Skoon, and Pet Heaven. However, the transition from corporate-backed founders to independent entrepreneurs was not without hard knocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allerstorfer told Forbes that 23 July 2014 was his worst day in business. Shortly after launching Silvertree, the duo faced a catastrophic series of events that threatened to derail their entire operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An investor in their first major project, an online pharmacy called HealthCart, took complete control of the business and forced them out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simultaneously, an investor in their price comparison site disappeared, leaving them with mounting bills and 20 employees to pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were suddenly facing a financial crisis that seemed insurmountable at the time. \u201cOur whole world was crumbling in front of us,\u201d said Allerstorfer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PowerPoint power<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The Silvertree team. From left to right: Paul Cook, Peter Allerstorfer, Freddy Caspers, Manuel Koser, Andrew Whale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

They questioned whether leaving the security of Zando and the backing of Rocket Internet was the right move. However, their bet paid off when they secured new investment within a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tide turned when their fundraising PowerPoint presentation secured fresh capital, allowing them to stabilise the business, scale Silvertree\u2019s revenue tenfold, and buy back HealthCart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe later found out that HealthCart\u2019s investor pulled out because they were going through financial troubles and tried to do fundraising, but failed,\u201d Allerstorfer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the investor wanted to shut down HealthCart, Silvertree bought it back \u2014 a sweet victory after the rollercoaster they had taken to get there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for why they remain in Cape Town, Koser said in a 2020 promotional video for the city that the reason was quite simple \u2014 Cape Town was the most beautiful city in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve travelled the world, and I have a rule that to this day is unbroken,\u201d said Koser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery foreigner I meet, unprompted, within 24 hours of their first visit, starts the conversation about how to relocate to Cape Town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Photos of Zando over the years<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Early Zando logistics centre<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Zando 2014 eCommerce Awards<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Zando reception<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Zando team in 2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two young men emigrated from Germany to Cape Town to launch an e-commerce empire, and fell in love with the Mother City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":637574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[14837,104184,104185,14835],"class_list":["post-637571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-manuel-koser","tag-peter-allerstorfer","tag-rocket-internet","tag-zando"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637571"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637571"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":637808,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637571\/revisions\/637808"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}