Catch: A business timeline, in their words
Drawing from interviews, book passages, and public statements, here’s how the Leibovich brothers and other figures close to Catch describe its business journey.
The Catch story is drawing to a close, as current owner Wesfarmers pledges to wind down the business it acquired for $230 million in 2019.
It is a story of innovation, hardship, “intrapreneurs”, and self-described ‘chutzpah’, which co-founders Gabby and Hezi Leibovich, and some of their key partners and lieutenants, have outlined over the years.
Here is a timeline of key moments in the Catch story, in the words of the Leibovichs and those who played a role in their entrepreneurial journey.
2006
After experimenting with separate eBay resale businesses and online department store DailyDeals.com.au, Gabby and Hezi Leibovich formally launched CatchOfTheDay.com.au in October.
Heavily inspired by US-based Woot, the Melbourne-based business offered a single product each day at heavily discounted prices. The business profited by acquiring cheap stock that other retailers failed to move.
In their 2021 book Catch of the Decade, Gabby and Hezi Leibovich wrote:
We realised that there was a massive untapped opportunity in being able to help suppliers and brands get rid of their ‘mistakes’, and this was the piece of the puzzle that Catchoftheday solved.
Their thesis was deceptively simple:
One of the questions we get asked all the time is, ‘Why has Catchoftheday succeeded in e-commerce while others have not?’ And while there are many ways to answer this question, our answer has always been, quite simply, ‘We are better buyers!’
2008
Now a team of 15, Catchoftheday successfully moved millions of dollars in unwanted stock each month. However, the founding duo lamented the fact many big-name brands and suppliers refused to deal with a company that lacked a physical storefront.
The Leibovichs said their “turning point” and transition to a major e-commerce force came in July 2008, when Toshiba offered to sell the company 8,000 laptops. Catchoftheday sold 4,000 in four hours.
The brothers wrote:
This is the day our reputation was made. We had made the big league.
The same year, the brothers shut down their eBay operations and the DailyDeals.com.au site to focus on Catchoftheday, and moved into a new Springvale warehouse.
A year later, the business would rank #38 at SmartCompany’s Smart50 awards.
2010
The duo launched Scoopon, a Catchoftheday-style site offering services. After initial hesitancy from providers, Scoopon broke through with a mixture of dining, spa, and activity vouchers.
The business recruited Jon Beros to build out the Scoopon team, who was on board for another major development in 2012: Scoopon Travel.
Discussing the moment a hotel enquired if they could market their accommodation on Scoopon, Beros wrote:
I remember everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and we all kind of looked at each other, silently wondering why a hotel was calling us… I recovered in time to say, ‘Just say yes, and we’ll work out the rest later.’
The Scoopon Travel model would soon expand, with the business offering premium accommodation deals under what became Bonvoyage.com.au.
With Scoopon fully underway, Catchoftheday would eventually morph into Catch, and the overall business would become Catch Group.
2011
Catchoftheday and Scoopon secured an $80 million investment, led by US hedge fund Tiger Global with contributions from James Packer and Seek co-founder Andrew Bassat, for a 40% stake.
The Leibovich brothers retained a controlling interest in the business, which the deal valued at $200 million.
Speaking to SmartCompany at the time, Gabby Leibovich said:
We’ve established ourselves as leaders in this space without any money and we’ve been profitable. They’ve given us a full suitcase full of cash, and we’re going to use it to become the undisputed market leader.
2012
Frustrated by a local pizza shop that repeatedly delivered the wrong order, Hezi Leibovich imagined a new digital fast food ordering system. Soon after, he received a cold-call email from Melbourne founder Matt Dyer, who had developed his own system: EatNow.com.au.
Leibovich wrote:
It was everyone’s lucky day.
The revitalised Eat Now website, platform, and app were live and operational by October that year.
2014
The Catch business spent $20 million to automate its warehouse, improving its efficiency — and eventually boosting its attractiveness to a buyer like Wesfarmers.
The founding duo wrote:
Logistics is not a sexy topic to most, but it is to us because it’s the beating heart behind the success of our business.
2015
Eat Now merged with industry incumbent Menulog in January 2015. The Australian and global appetite for meal delivery apps was only growing, but with Uber Eats and Deliveroo yet to flourish Down Under, UK-based Just Eat acquired the newly-merged business for $855 million.
Hezi Leibovich wrote:
I was so proud that despite all the odds, we delivered what we had promised to one another. Together, we were unbeatable.
2016
Buoyed by the Menulog sale, the Leibovichs explored opportunities to sell Catch, or list it on the public market.
But the Leibovichs feared potential buyers or investors were put off by the complexity of the business and its many different arms, writing:
We knew we had a great business, but to the outsider peering in, we looked unfocused.
It was fortuitous that Catch did not change hands in that moment, with Hezi’s commentary having a particular resonance in 2025:
You’ve probably guessed by now we’re not corporate types and we don’t always do things in the boring, corporate way, so you can imagine how we’d bristle at the scrutiny and glacial pace of decision making that occurs within a public company.
Flush with a portion of the Menulog cash, the duo bought back the 40% stake they offloaded to Tiger Global in 2011.
The duo installed new CEO Nati Harpaz, and worked to revitalise the “intrapreneur” culture that helped Catch succeed in the first instance.
2017
Both Scoopon Travel and Bon Voyage merged with competitor Luxury Escapes in 2017, through a complex deal that ultimately gave the Leibovichs a 20% stake in the Lux Group.
Speaking to SmartCompany in 2017, Adam Schwab, Lux Group founder, said:
It’s about respecting your counterpart, and knowing that it’s an amazing business. Having mutual respect, understanding, and entering things in good faith.
The deal also simplified both businesses, alleviating the Leibovichs’ concerns over internal complexity.
Placing Catch’s travel wing under Lux Group ultimately made Catch more appealing to Wesfarmers, Schwab told SmartCompany this week:
Wesfarmers wouldn’t have bought the business before this. It was too complex, and we could never have got investment in our business later on because it was too complex. So it was one of those really rare win-win deals where everyone won.
At the same time, Amazon officially launched in Australia, signalling the start of the new ‘marketplace’ era.
Catch soon adopted a marketplace model, allowing third-party sellers to use its platform.
In a statement, Harpaz said:
We think we have the best of both worlds, a potent core offer of unbeatable value products, with the marketplace providing an amazing assortment of categories and products, seamlessly wrapped around our amazing specials.
And in their book, the brothers added:
Now, the shackles were off and we could offer almost anything.
2019
Catch Group’s combination of marketplace capabilities, logistical expertise, and brand loyalty saw Wesfarmers acquire the business for $230 million.
According to the brothers:
Another intangible reason that made us attractive as an acquisition was our extraordinary team and the intrapreneurial energy they brought to the business. They represented the culture that made Catch so successful.
Wesfarmers agreed. Sharing the news with the ASX, Wesfarmers managing director Rob Scott said:
Catch Group has a high calibre management team and a leading e-commerce platform with quality
fulfilment assets.
With Catch poised to become a homegrown Amazon competitor under Wesfamers, the Leibovich brothers pursued new opportunities, after playing a major role in exits worth an estimated $1 billion.
2020
In its first full-year financial report since acquiring Catch Group, Wesfarmers said its business unit generated $364 million since the acquisition.
Wesfarmers called Catch Group a good example of its:
… disciplined approach to capital allocation and consistent with our objective of deploying capital where we expect to generate attractive returns to shareholders over time.
But many figures who helped build Catch from the ground up, and steered the business as it improved its logistics and added the marketplace, left in 2020.
Those figures included Harpaz, who left in April that year, and Adam Chrapot, former Catch head of sourcing, who left in September.
Head of marketplace Kalman Polak and head of buying Guy Polak, both described by the Leibovichs as two of Australia’s top e-commerce minds, also departed.
The Polak brothers stepped away in October and September, respectively.
2022
Despite operating through the COVID-era online shopping boom, Catch Group was not consistently successful under Wesfarmers.
EBITDA of $20 million in FY20 dropped to a loss of $24 million the next year, and a loss of $88 million in FY23.
In his financial analysis of Catch Group under Wesfarmers, accountant and entrepreneur Jason Andrew asked:
If Wesfarmers couldn’t make money from Catch during the biggest boom of all time, what chance will it have in the future?
2025
Less than six years after paying $230 million for Catch Group, Wesfarmers announced its plan to wind down the operation.
The decision capped off years of losses under Wesfarmers management, with Catch Group expected to report operating losses, before tax, of between $38 million and $40 million for the six months to 31 December 2024.
In a statement provided to SmartCompany, managing director Rob Scott suggested Catch Group struggled to compete against the likes of Amazon and newer players like Temu:
Standalone, broad-based marketplaces require significant scale and traffic to achieve profitability. International players are better able to leverage their global scale, networks and technologies compared to Australian-owned broad-based marketplaces.
Wesfarmers plans to repurpose Catch’s distribution centres under Kmart Group, with select digital capabilities spread across the Wesfarmers stable.
Taking to LinkedIn, Gabby Leibovich said:
We’ve been reading all the posts and comments this week by Catch staff and suppliers.
Super proud. Thank you everyone 🙏🏻🙏🏻❤️❤️
It’s All About The People.
Harpaz, who departed the business in 2020, echoed Leibovich’s view:
Catch should have been doing exceptionally well. It was totally a strategy and execution problem… I used to write to the team – Culture eats strategy for breakfast! We used to live this every day!
Hire and retain your best talent, let them work, create a fun, creative and learning culture and you will see your business succeed!
Beros, in particular, shared his belief that Catch lost its managerial spark under Wesfarmers. Taking to LinkedIn, he wrote:
When Wesfarmers acquired Catch, many key staff were either let go, forced out, or shackled in ways that stifled innovation and stripped away the culture of agility and creativity.
It’s no coincidence that the “Catch Mafia” (those who left) are now kicking ass, leading or building great businesses across Australia. The magic wasn’t just in the deals, it was in the people behind them.
Schwab, whose 2017 business deal put Catch on a pathway to acquisition, described the circumstances as “own-goal value destruction”.
Speaking to SmartCompany, he said:
It’s really rare to see a business of Catch’s scale implode like this. This is significant. This is a business that was turning over a billion dollars — it was making 10 million bucks a year, and probably should have been making more –but effectively imploding to be worth zero is basically unheard of.
Even competitor Ruslan Kogan — whose eponymous e-commerce platform was a major competitor, and allegedly tried buying Catch from Wesfarmers — wrote on LinkedIn that:
It’s bittersweet to hear that Wesfarmers is shutting down Catch… It’s a shame they chose to shut it down.
While the timeline shows the pivotal moments that influenced Catch’s story, Schwab, who earned a front-seat view of the enterprise, said its success was the result of countless moments that didn’t make the headlines:
There was no big game in any of that business. It was just like 15 years of grind and slowly, customer by customer, sale by sale, building up a stronger brand, more scale… it’s hard to pinpoint specific moments in any of our businesses that were transformational in and of itself.
Never miss a story: sign up to SmartCompany’s free daily newsletter and find our best stories on LinkedIn.
