Business exits and small M&A case studies
These are exits where a business run by an individual or a small team was sold, and the price or terms were made public. Small Start records the sale price, the multiple on monthly profit, the type of buyer and how the deal came together.
The focus is not just the price but why that multiple was paid — growth trend, key-person risk, and fit with the buyer all move the number.
- Case studies
- 203
- Sale price
- 862.5億円
Exit and acquisition cases
1–24 of 203
An 18-Year-Old French Pâtisserie Changed Hands for ¥8M With 1–2 Weeks Left Before Closing — And the 29-Year-Old Buyer Never Negotiated the Price
A handmade French pâtisserie in Hyogo, in business 18 years, was sold through TRANBI for about ¥8 million while it was one to two weeks from shutting down. The buyer, a 29-year-old sole proprietor, never once asked for a discount.
Traffic Think Tank: a six-year side-hustle SEO community sold for $1.8M, with 40% paid later
Traffic Think Tank, a paid SEO community, was run for about six years by three founders who kept their day jobs, and sold to the listed company Semrush for $1.8M in February 2023. Per the buyer's 10-Q, $360K each was held back for 12 and 18 months, so 60% changed hands at closing.
Ozeki Sangyo: A Factory "Two Months From Death" Changed Hands for ¥13M — ¥11M of It an Apartment, Not Cash
Ozeki Sangyo, a contract manufacturer in Isesaki, Gunma, was sold via TRANBI about two months before its scheduled shutdown. The price was roughly ¥13 million: ¥11 million paid in an apartment transferred in kind, ¥2 million in cash. It turned profitable in about 100 days.
NEOKICK Maebashi: A Gym Earning ¥2.5M a Year Sold for ¥3M — After the Only Trainer Quit Mid-Negotiation
A kickboxing gym with ~40 members and ~¥2.5M annual operating profit sold for ¥3M. The only trainer quit mid-negotiation; the buyer still closed.
MoneySavingExpert: Started for £100, Sold for Up to £87M — and 31% of It Hung on Non-Financial Terms
A personal finance site launched for £100 in 2003 sold for up to £87M in 2012. £60M landed at completion; £27M hung on non-financial criteria.
Takadanobaba English School: Sold for ¥6M to a Buyer Who Thought ¥5M Was Fair
A nine-month-old English school with 35 students, barely at breakeven, sold for ¥6M. The buyer privately valued it at ¥5M and paid the full ask anyway.
A Fruit Sandwich Shop Headed for Closure Sold for ¥2M — a "Nothing to Lose" Listing Drew 20+ Offers
A sandwich shop the owner had already decided to shut down was listed on TRANBI at his bank's suggestion and drew more than 20 acquisition offers. The ¥2M price equalled the original setup cost. "I could have asked ¥1M more," the seller says.
Systeria: Two Hiroshima Rental Spaces Sold for ¥4.8M on a Formula of "Two Years of Profit Plus Furniture"
A rental-space business started with ¥1M split between two people grew to 43 locations in about two and a half years. Two Hiroshima sites were then sold for ¥4.8M — and the seller explains the pricing formula, plus the price point where enquiries dry up.
A 15-Year Housekeeping Business Sold for ¥45M Against an ¥80M Asking Price — What Won the Four-Way Auction Was Not the Highest Bid
A housekeeping services business with no successor (15-plus years, roughly ¥60M in annual revenue) closed on TRANBI at ¥45 million against an ¥80 million asking price. In a four-way competition, the buyer's bid was not the highest. Average customer tenure was four to five years.
Median: The Cobrowsing SaaS Sold for "Just Under 300k" by the Founder's Own Account — But the Real Exit Was Two Perpetual Licenses Signed Before It
Median, a cobrowsing SaaS bootstrapped by two founders, sold for just under $300K by the founder's own account. But the two perpetual licensing deals signed before the sale were each larger, and the combined total came to "close to 2 million bucks."
The Cruiser Store: AUD $2,205,627 in Two and a Half Years — 9x ROAS and a 20-Hour Week
Australian parts e-commerce business The Cruiser Store sold via Flippa for AUD $2,205,627 roughly two and a half years after launch. Annual revenue was about AUD $3.5M, EBITDA margin 21%, ROAS 9x, with 800-plus SKUs, and the owner worked 20 hours a week.
Eleven Rental Spaces Sold One by One for ¥60.5M Total — What Earned "Two to Three Times the Going Rate" Was the Know-How, Not the Property
Rental space operator Mitsu sold 11 locations for a cumulative ¥60.5 million through an M&A marketplace. Most were around 20 square meters, yet "every one sold for two to three times the going rate," with the most recent 30-square-meter unit going for ¥12 million. Eighty percent of bookings came through his own website.
Weeplow: A Gravity-Fed Water Filter D2C Brand Sold on €3.5M Revenue and a 41% Margin — Flippa Put $3.7M in the Headline
Weeplow, a water filter D2C brand centered on France and Belgium, sold via Flippa in 2025. Annual revenue €3.5M, annual profit €1.45M, a 41% margin, and €295K a month. Around 10 SKUs, a 1.7% return rate. Flippa's headline figure for the sale was $3.7M.
ParaWorks: An Indoor Golf Studio Built for ¥20M and Sold for ¥35M After Eight Months — Powered by a #1 Ranking for "[Area Name] Indoor Golf"
ParaWorks, a web marketing agency, launched a membership indoor golf facility and sold it for ¥35 million after just eight months on a ¥20 million initial investment. It turned a monthly profit in month five, and roughly 80% of free-trial visitors converted to members.
DialHawk: A Call-Tracking SaaS Running on $5,110 a Month in Costs — $18,116 MRR Sold for $725,000 at 2.6x Revenue
DialHawk, a call-tracking SaaS for lead-generation businesses, sold on Flippa for $725,000. Annual revenue was $283,539 (a 2.6x revenue multiple), MRR was $18,116, monthly expenses just $5,110, and monthly churn 2%.
Odyssey Traveller: A 36-Year-Old Senior Education Tour Operator Sold for $849,600 — On 90% Direct Bookings and an 18,000-Name Email List
Odyssey Traveller, an Australian educational tour company founded in 1983, sold on Flippa for $849,600. Trailing-twelve-month revenue was AUD 1,988,314 with AUD 271,795 in profit — a 14% EBITDA margin — on 90% direct bookings and 18,000 email subscribers.
Photosolve.io: A Homework AI App That Reached 2.5M Users at $0.50 CAC — Sold for $575,000 in Under Two Years
Photosolve.io, an app that solves homework from a photo, sold on Flippa for $575,000. Launched April 2023, it did $348,849 in trailing-twelve-month revenue at ~86% margins with 5,000 paying subscribers, 90% organic traffic and a $0.50 CAC.
AllAboutCookies.org: A $9,000 Expired Domain Sold for $5.2M Fourteen Years Later — a Solo-Run, AdSense-Only Site at 92% Margin and ~$400 RPM
AllAboutCookies.org, an expired domain a retired New Zealand ex-taxi driver won for $9,000 in 2008, grew into an AdSense site with 267K monthly pageviews, ~$400 RPM, and a 92% profit margin — then sold for $5.2M via Flippa. A 578x return, with revenue almost 100% ads.
Potato Parcel: Sold for $42,000 Six Months After Launch — a Joke Potato-Message Shop Now at $600K a Year Under Its Shark Tank Buyer
Potato Parcel, the "write a message on a potato and mail it" store Alex Craig started in 2015, was sold for $42,000 just six months in, at over $10,000 in monthly sales. Buyer Riad Bekhit went on to land Kevin O'Leary on Shark Tank, and the business still ran at $600–700K a year as of 2024.
Spencer Haws: Selling an Amazon FBA Brand for $425,000 in 2.5 Years — Priced at 30x the $14,000 Monthly Net Profit, Bundled with a Review Site
Spencer Haws of Niche Pursuits launched a home-goods FBA brand in 2015 and sold it via Empire Flippers for $425,000 — about 30x its trailing-12-month average net profit of $14,000+/month. Bundled with a 120-article review site, the listing reached a verbal agreement in about 40 days.
Native: A Lawyer Who Couldn't Read His Deodorant Label Sold His D2C Brand to P&G for $100M Cash in About 2.5 Years
Launched in July 2015, D2C deodorant brand Native sold to P&G for $100M in cash in November 2017. It raised just $500K, leaving founder Moiz Ali with over 90% ownership. At exit: $30M annual revenue and $1M monthly net profit. A numbers-first look at 2.5 years of one product, one channel, one ad platform.
10Beasts: An 8-Article Amazon Affiliate Site Hit $80K/Month in 9 Months — Sold for $570K, Google Penalty 17 Days Later
Student Luqman Khan's Amazon affiliate site 10Beasts reached $80,000 a month in commissions with just 8 articles, nine months after launch. In December 2017 it sold for $570,000 via Empire Flippers — and 17 days after handover, a Google penalty struck. A case where timing the exit made all the difference.
Bargaineering: From Cents a Day to a $3M Sale in Five Years
Launched in January 2005, US personal finance blog Bargaineering was earning "a few cents to maybe a dollar a day" at the six-month mark. Five years later, in 2010, it sold for $3 million. Founder Jim Wang has kept publishing the details himself — here is what the numbers say about the slow start and the eventual exit.
WooThemes: The Cape Town WordPress Theme Shop Whose $30M+ Exit Was Earned by a Late-Born "Internal Plugin" — WooCommerce
WooThemes, the South African WordPress theme company, was sold to Automattic in May 2015. Per Re/code's reporting, the consideration was over $30M in cash and stock. What carried the bootstrapped three-founder company to its exit was WooCommerce, the e-commerce plugin it launched belatedly in 2011. At the sale: 55 people across ~20 countries.
FAQ
- What can a small online business sell for?
- Documented deals here range from a few thousand dollars to tens of millions. Japanese site marketplaces cluster around 12–24x monthly profit; bootstrapped SaaS deals in this archive landed at roughly 3–6x annual revenue.
- Where do sellers find buyers?
- Routes in these cases include marketplaces (Rakko M&A, Batonz, Acquire), direct outreach to ecosystem roll-ups, communities and conferences, and inbound from acquisition funds.