Online marketplace Kogan has acquired New Zealand-based Mighty Ape for $122.4 million in a play to accelerate the e-commerce group’s growth across the Tasman.

Mighty Ape is known for its focus on toys, games and entertainment categories, and will complement Kogan’s own focus on electronics and household goods. The business’ founder and executive team will be kept on until at least the end of FY23, Kogan said.

“We are pleased to be bringing the iconic Mighty Ape into the Kogan Group, and are delighted to be welcoming Simon Barton and his team,” said Kogan COO and CFO David Shafer.

“We are a natural home for Mighty Ape, given similar histories and shared values – most importantly our obsession with delighting customers and continually improving the online shopping experience.”

According to Shafer the acquisition will give Kogan a significant boost in scale in New Zealand, and will further strengthen its offering in areas of entertainment in which it has previously lacked experience.

Kogan has a history of buying up businesses that enable it to offer new capabilities to its customers, such as mobile and internet services, credit cards, energy services, home, health, life and travel insurances, and home loans.

And its focus on being able to provide everything a customer could theoretically need seems to have paid off during lockdown, when it saw the biggest monthly increase in customers it had ever seen early this year.

And, following on from the mass uptake of online shoppers, the business reported record increases in annual gross sales, profit and adjusted EBITDA in FY20.