GHB Kopen

What GHB Kopen does

GHB Kopen, doing business as Buy GBL Shop, is a Berlin-based private e-commerce retailer that sells Gamma-Butyrolactone (GBL), a hygroscopic, colorless, water-soluble lactone (CAS: 96-48-0, EINECS: 202-509-5), marketed as a 99.9% purity industrial cleaning solvent. The company offers a single product family in four volume tiers — 5L (£450), 10L (£900), 20L (£1,800), and 50L (£4,500) — advertised for automotive wheel and exhaust cleaning, gasoline tank restoration, ink cartridge cleaning, and as a molecular building block for laboratory use. Founded in 2014, the company employs 51–100 people and operates a multilingual storefront in 13+ languages.

The business model is direct-to-consumer, one-time-purchase e-commerce with no subscription or recurring component. Orders are fulfilled globally with shipping to North America, the EU, UK, Switzerland, and Australia; free shipping is offered on orders exceeding 5 liters, with a £25 flat fee otherwise. Payment is accepted exclusively via Bitcoin or SEPA bank transfer, a deliberate choice that aligns with the discreet cross-border positioning emphasized in the company's value proposition. Customer acquisition is driven by organic SEO and a multilingual blog rather than paid advertising, and there is no third-party distribution, reseller, or marketplace presence. The company has no disclosed funding rounds, no M&A activity, no partnerships, no leadership bios, and no certifications or compliance disclosures on file.

Name

GHB Kopen

Legal name

Buy GBL Shop

Website

https://buygblshop.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

GHB Koper (dba Buy GBL Shop) is a Berlin-based DTC e-commerce retailer selling Gamma-Butyrolactone (GBL) in 5L–50L volumes, marketed as a 99.9% purity industrial cleaning solvent, shipped globally and paid for in Bitcoin or SEPA.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industrial Chemical Solvents

NAICS

Other Chemical Product and Preparation Manufacturing (3259), Soap, Cleaning Compound, and Toilet Preparation Manufacturing (3256)

SIC

Miscellaneous Chemical Products (2890), Industrial Organic Chemicals (2860), Chemicals & Allied Products (2800)

akta.pro primary industry

Acids & Descalers (Muriatic, Phosphoric, Sulfamic) (CRAJAKAD)

Keywords

• Industrial solvents
• Chemical cleaning products
• Bulk chemical e-commerce
• Automotive cleaning chemicals
• Gamma-butyrolactone sales

Headquarters

HQ city

Berlin

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Personnel

Revenue model

1. Product Sales (One-time Transaction): One-time purchase model where customers buy GBL product volumes at set price points. No subscription or recurring revenue model. Revenue generated per transaction with per-unit pricing scaling by volume (e.g., 5L at £450, 10L at £900, 20L at £1,800, 50L at £4,500). Additional revenue from flat-rate shipping fees (£25 per order).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

GHB Kopen sells pure Gamma-Butyrolactone (GBL), a hygroscopic, colorless, water-soluble chemical compound (CAS: 96-48-0, EINECS: 202-509-5), as a 99.9% pure cleaning solvent and chemical building block. The product is offered in 5L, 10L, 20L, and 50L volume containers and is marketed primarily for automotive cleaning (alloy wheels, vehicle exhaust systems, gas tank restoration), industrial solvent uses, ink cartridge cleaning, and laboratory/research applications. Orders are placed via a multilingual online store and shipped worldwide with payment accepted in Bitcoin or via SEPA bank transfer.

Product overview

GHB Kopen operates an online e-commerce shop selling Gamma-Butyrolactone (GBL) products as a single unified product line. The company offers pure GBL in four volume sizes (5L, 10L, 20L, and 50L) as their core product offering, marketed primarily as a cleaner/solvent for automotive applications (wheel cleaners, gas tank restoration) and industrial uses. The products are shipped worldwide with Bitcoin and SEPA payment options, featuring 99.9% purity and laboratory-tested quality claims.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Pure Gamma-Butyrolactone 5L

Quantifiable outcome

• 99.9% purity
• +1 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Avantor (VWR): Global distributor of laboratory chemicals, solvents, and cleaners serving pharma, research, and industrial buyers. Comparable on the regulated online chemical-distribution model rather than the consumer-facing product offering.
• Alfa Aesar (Thermo Fisher): Research-chemicals catalog brand of Thermo Fisher selling solvents, reagents, and precursors via online storefront. Comparable product overlap with GHB Kopen's marketed "research" segment, but a regulated B2B distribution channel rather than anonymous consumer sales.
• Thermo Fisher Scientific (Fisher Scientific): Major online distributor of laboratory chemicals, solvents, and cleaners serving research and industrial customers globally. The appropriate compliant comparison point to GHB Kopen's solvent-selling e-commerce proposition, particularly its cleaning-products and specialty-solvents catalog.
• Sigma-Aldrich (MilliporeSigma / Merck KGaA): Global B2B specialty chemicals e-commerce platform selling solvents, reagents, and laboratory chemicals to industrial and research buyers. Comparable because it represents the licensed, compliant counterfactual to GHB Kopen's current model — same chemistry commerce infrastructure, but operating under strict KYC and regulatory controls.
• TCI Chemicals: Japan-headquartered specialty chemicals manufacturer and online retailer selling organic solvents, reagents, and fine chemicals with a multi-language e-commerce storefront. Closely comparable in product chemistry (organic solvents, lactones) and direct-to-buyer online model, but operating as a licensed regulated player.
• Honeywell Specialty Chemicals (Research Chemicals): Industrial chemicals and solvents division offering high-purity solvents (including GBL-class chemistries) for research and industrial use through licensed distributor channels. Overlap lies in solvent chemistry rather than the direct-to-consumer model.

Emerging players

• Alliance Chemical: Online specialty chemicals retailer selling industrial and cleaning solvents in small-to-mid volume containers to US customers. Comparable to GHB Kopen in the consumer-tier e-commerce solvent offering rather than on regulated industrial distribution.
• Bulk Apothecary: US-based online retailer of specialty raw materials, solvents, and chemical ingredients sold in volume to small-business and consumer buyers. Closest analog to GHB Kopen's e-commerce scale and direct-to-buyer pricing tiering, but operating in regulated chemistry categories and not in controlled-substance precursors.

Others

• Brenntag: World's largest chemical distributor operating through licensed chemical distribution channels worldwide. Relevant as the upper-bound compliant distribution peer for any pivot of GHB Kopen into a regulated industrial solvents business.
• Univar Solutions: Global chemical and ingredients distributor serving industrial buyers with compliance and logistics infrastructure. Adjacent infrastructure-enabling peer relevant to any compliant re-platforming of the GHB Kopen operation.

Market position

Strengths3 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/gbl_kaufen

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about GHB Kopen