Applico’s Top 50 B2B Marketplaces

Applico recently published its third annual listing of the Top 50 B2B Marketplaces.  It’s a quirky list:

• it only includes product marketplaces, not services
• it’s based on companies that are private and based primarily in the US
• the criteria for ranking are subjective–scale, monetization, competition, competitive advantage, market size, capitalization, and investor backing

but it has intriguing companies on it.

The Top 10 B2B Marketplaces

Applico makes the entire list of marketplaces available only to subscribers, but they did publish publicly the list of the top 10 marketplaces:

I was familiar with each of these companies except Acculynx.  Acculynx sells software to roofing contractors.  As I pieced together how Acculynx has evolved, it looks like a great example of a company starting in the front office of a vertical (e.g., CRM,  estimating, payments acceptance) and extending through the customer to the back office and into the supply chain.  It’s become the operating system for that niche of contractors.  Very cool.

Verticals Represented by the Top 50 B2B Marketplaces

A few verticals dominate the Top 50 B2B Marketplaces:

• Twelve marketplaces, or almost 25% of the list, connect retailers with wholesalers and/or brands.  Indeed, 5 of the top 10 marketplaces are of this variety.  The types of retailers are varied–food and beverage, cannabis, gift and apparel, and alcoholic beverages. The dominance of wholesaler marketplaces on the list probably reflects the attractiveness of these markets, but also that Applico caters to wholesalers.
• Eight are healthcare marketplaces: pharma, veterinary, medical equipment, or dental offices.
• Seven of the marketplaces target contractors, including the aforementioned Acculynx.  Besides roofing contractors, solutions are oriented to a broad base of contractors, HVAC contractors, and electrical contractors.
• Five of the marketplaces are in on-demand manufacturing or MRO markets.
• Four marketplaces sell auto parts, including Parts Trader, making it the top ten.
• Four marketplaces sell surplus/used goods ranging from retail returns to used construction equipment.
• Three marketplaces are in the chemical industries.

The few remaining marketplaces are spread between agriculture, metals, and other markets.

Remember: this list does not include public B2B marketplaces such as  Alibaba, Mercado Libre, Upwork, Fiverr, Xometry, and ACV Auctions.  It also excludes service marketplaces, such as those in logistics. It’s fun to see a raft of newcomers, especially outside of the retail/wholesale world, which seems to get the most press.