Grzymkowski is a Polish entrepreneur and founder of eobuwie.pl. It is the leader in online sales of shoes and accessories in Central and Eastern Europe. When he left the company in 2021, he founded Ergonode, a startup developing PIM-class software. Then, the e-commerce platform Sportano.pl. In 2022, his fortune was worth 250M dollars.
He is only 40 years old and can boast many business successes. He founded Eobuwie.pl, which offers online sales of shoes, accessories, and handbags, in 2006. Grzymkowski was 26 then, taking over a shoe store in Zielona Gora from his parents. He managed to transform the traditional family business into a modern company of the digital age. In 2015, a 75% stake in the company was bought by CCC, a big player in the shoe market. But left Grzymkowski free to operate. It was a good idea because he launched Modivo in 2019, It was a multi-brand e-commerce platform with premium fashion, which was a perfect complement to eobuwie.pl’s offerings.
Unfortunately, Zygmunt Solorz, owner of Cyfrowy Polsat, and Rafał Brzoska, owner of InPost, acquired a 20% stake in eobuwie.pl in early 2021, paying 120M dollars each. Then Grzymkowski had to leave his position as CEO of the company. Although he remained with the company as vice chairman of the supervisory board, he quickly began looking for new ideas for himself.
Ergonode and Sportano.pl
Grzymkowski first invested in Ergonode, a startup that creates software to support building and managing product content in online stores. Then, in the multibrand e-commerce platform Sportano.pl, dubbed the “sports Zalando.” Offering sports equipment, apparel, and accessories, this investment proved to be a hit. Grzymkowski quickly amassed about a million products from more than 600 brands. And didn’t just focus on clothing and footwear.
A vital part of his offer is sports equipment for almost every sport. Until now, sports has not been a strong point of the big marketplaces. The company is, therefore, more of a competitor to the chain formats of Decathlon, Go Sport, or Intersport. Than to the classic online clothing stores. Those that are even doomed to compete with Zalando. In the sporting goods industry, Grzymkowski is now the innovator. He tries to take back the shares of the retail chains that have been in this market for decades. And while he’s still young, he has much business experience. Well, and capital.
Awards
Various bodies have awarded him many times. EY recognized him as Entrepreneur of the Year 2016 and gave him the New Technology/Innovation Award 2016. Forbes recognized him as Entrepreneur of the Year in 2019 and gave him the BrandMe CEO Award in 2021. In the same year, he was named Personality of the Year in the Luxury Brand of the Year poll.
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