A white Tesla Model Y sits in a showroom with people walking around it.
E-commerce start-up Acquco is offering free Tesla Model Ys to people who successfully refer Amazon sellers for purchase.
Zhe Ji/Getty Images
  • Start-up Acquco is offering free Tesla Model Ys to people who refer Amazon sellers it then buys.
  • The e-commerce start-up is offering the equivalent $49,990 cash prize for successful referrals.
  • Many firms have sprung up in recent years to buy and scale profitable Amazon third-party sellers.
  • See more stories on Insider's business page.

An e-commerce company that acquires third-party Amazon sellers is offering a Tesla Model Y or $50,000 cash for every referral that leads to a purchase, suggesting that the market is hotting up further.

Acquco announced on its website Wednesday that it wanted to expand its portfolio of Amazon sellers who earn at least $1 million in annual revenue. It's offering up to $10 million worth of Tesla Model Ys or an equivalent $50,000 cash prize for referrals.

"Acquco is looking to grow its portfolio and [is] hoping to reward you along the way," the company says on its promotional webpage. "If we acquire a business that you refer us, we will buy you a Tesla."

Amazon sellers are hot property among retail start-ups looking to package small and medium-sized companies into a larger business they can more easily scale. These third-party sellers take advantage of the enormous reach of Amazon's platform and delivery services.

Amazon said in an October press release that its third-party sellers had raked in more than $3.5 billion in sales on its 2020 Prime Day, up 60% from the previous year, and were growing at a faster rate than its own retail business.

Aggregator start-ups like Thrasio and Perch have sprung up in recent years bring third-party Amazon sellers together to propel their growth. Acquco said on its website that it has so far raised $160 million in venture capital.

Read more: Big firms are popping up to buy third-party Amazon sellers, who made up more than half of the retail giant's $386 billion in net sales in 2020. Here are the biggest players in this fast-growing trend.

Acquco CEO Raunak Nirmal, a former Amazon employee who founded Acquco last year, told CNBC in an interview Thursday that the company had received about 200 referrals since the Tesla scheme launched the day before. He told CNBC that Acquco was prepared to spend up to $10 million on Teslas for successful referrals.

Prices for Model Ys start between $47,000 and $53,000, according to Tesla's website.

Acquco did not immediately respond to Insider for comment.

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