Tag Archives: eCommerce

Fibbl raises €4 million to scale XR technologies in e-commerce, bridging the gap between physical and online stores

Industriefonden

Fibbl raises €4 million to scale XR technologies in e-commerce, bridging the gap between physical and online stores 

Swedish company Fibbl, a pioneer in 3D model production and XR (extended reality) technology for e-commerce, successfully closed a €4 million investment round. The round was led by Industrifonden, with support from business angels Pontus Lindwall, Göran and Henrik Garvner and John Wattin. The new funds will be utilized to boost go-to-market efforts, further cementing Fibbl’s position as a key player in the rapidly growing market.

E-commerce enterprises face significant challenges when implementing XR experiences at scale, with complex processes that require substantial time and up-front costs. Fibbl’s technology simplifies this journey by providing brands and retailers with on-demand access to consistent and unparalleled quality of 3D models, optimized for omnipresence in XR across platforms.

“We firmly believe in a future where the online product experience exceeds that of traditional brick-and-mortar stores and are thrilled to get the support from strong investors in bringing our vision to life,” said Henrik Arlestig, co-founder and CEO of Fibbl. “With our advanced XR technology and a scalable software-as-a-service business model, we are at the forefront of transforming the e-commerce landscape.”

Through seamless plug-and-play integration and easy onboarding, brands and retailers gain immediate access to 3D content and XR technologies, facilitating rapid adoption and improved shopping experiences for their end-customers. Fibbl’s agnostic and scalable technology can adapt to emerging technologies and extend beyond their current focus on sport and fashion products to various product verticals.

Caroline Wachtmeister, at Industrifonden, commented:  “As customers increasingly demand a comprehensive understanding of the products they purchase, Fibbl’s innovative solutions are poised to play a crucial role in shaping the future of online retail for the better. We are thrilled to support Fibbl in their mission to revolutionize e-commerce through the integration of 3D and XR technologies. With an exceptional team, Fibbl is well-positioned to capitalize on the immense potential of the market.”

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ECOMMERCE ONE acquires cloud shop solution provider Gambio

Oakley

Oakley Capital (‘Oakley’), the pan-European private equity investor, is pleased to announce that portfolio company ECOMMERCE ONE has acquired Gambio, one of the leading providers of shop system software solutions for online retailers in the DACH region.

Ecommerce One news image

Founded in 2004 by Daniel Schnadt and Nonito Capuno, Bremen-based Gambio provides more than 25,000 retailers with a modern shop system software that offers a wide range of functions and is connected to all major marketplaces, payment systems, merchandise management and ERP systems and shipping service providers.

Icons8 Click & Collect

Provides more than 25,000 retailers with a modern shop system software

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Connected to all major marketplaces, payment systems, merchandise management and ERP systems and shipping service providers

Icons8 Improvement

Solutions optimised for the best search engine rankings and are suitable for both professionals and e-commerce beginners

Gambio’s solutions are optimised for the best search engine rankings and are suitable for both professionals and e-commerce beginners, who can create and customise a legally compliant online shop without programming knowledge.

Quote Daliah Salzmann

Today’s online retailers require more speed and flexibility than ever. We offer them easy access to holistic solutions. Gambio fits perfectly into our portfolio as a cloud-based shop solution with a strong track record and valuable expertise that will benefit the other companies in our Group.

Daliah Salzmann

Managing Director — ECOMMERCE ONE

Market-leading SaaS solutions for online merchants in the DACH region

Backed by Oakley, ECOMMERCE ONE comprises companies that provide market-leading SaaS solutions for online merchants in the DACH region, helping clients manage and automate difficult, manual and time-critical processes that underpin successful ecommerce operations.

ECOMMERCE ONE was formed in June 2021 in order to establish an ecosystem that harnesses synergies between its constituent companies and accelerates joint growth, while also creating added-value and an all-round solution for online merchants.

With the acquisition of Gambio, ECOMMERCE ONE is continuing its growth strategy. The business complements ECOMMERCE ONE’s existing software solutions, most notably multichannel providers Afterbuy and DreamRobot, and allows the group to offer more services to its customers.

Gambio will operate under the ECOMMERCE ONE umbrella but will remain independent, with Dr. Felix Hötzinger remaining as Managing Director.

For our merchants, joining ECOMMERCE ONE gives them the advantage of receiving even more services and benefiting from the holistic value chain solution that the ecosystem offers for online commerce. We also want to be able to offer our solution to even more clients and joining forces with ECOMMERCE ONE enables us to do so.

Dr. Felix Hötzinger

Managing Director — Gambio

Quote Peter Dubens

We’re pleased to see ECOMMERCE ONE deliver on its buy-and-build strategy as we complement the software solution portfolio and grow the group to become the leading eCommerce software provider for online merchants in the DACH region. A high-performing shop system is a key component of successful eCommerce strategy, so adding Gambio is a logical and exciting extension to ECOMMERCE ONE’s existing offering.

Peter Dubens

Managing Partner & Co-Founder — Oakley Capital

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Nordic Capital becomes owner of Ellos Group once again

Nordic Capital

Nordic Capital becomes owner of Ellos Group once again

June 30 2022

Nordic Capital becomes the new owner of FNG Nordic AB (Ellos Group), the Nordic region’s leading e-commerce group within home and fashion. With a profitable, long-term development and backed by a stable owner, Ellos Group is well positioned in the market to benefit from online growth and demand in the Nordics and elsewhere in Europe.

Ellos Group is on a growth journey with significant investments and progress made on the way to becoming the Nordic region’s leading e-commerce group within home and fashion. After several years of profitable growth, Ellos Group achieved sales of nearly SEK 3.6 billion in 2021. Today, Ellos Group has more than 2 million active and satisfied customers in the Nordics and across Europe.

Based on an ambitious growth strategy, Ellos Group has successfully expanded its well-invested and scalable e-commerce platform. In recent years, the company has expanded its attractive Jotex range of home furnishings into selected markets in Europe. The strategy was recently sharpened with greater focus on creating a more attractive, sustainable and broad-based fashion and home offering to core customers: women in mid-life.

Ellos Group was owned until 2019 by Nordic Capital, which then entered into an agreement to sell Ellos Group to FNG Nordic AB (publ), indirectly owned by the Belgian company FNG NV. Nordic Capital has been an indirect minority owner since the sale and has in the last three years continued to support Ellos Group’s development and progress.

As previously communicated, due to Ellos Group’s former owner filing a petition to commence insolvency proceedings in Belgium, Nordic Capital initiated a process in February 2022 to become the owner of the company. The ownership assessment required for Nordic Capital to regain ownership of Ellos Group has since been approved by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority.

“The news that Nordic Capital once again becomes Ellos Group’s owner is very positive. We know Nordic Capital well and look forward to working with them as owner. We are starting from a positive position having improved the customer experience, strengthened our operational capability and expanded in Europe in recent years. Our focused efforts have produced results. After several years of profitable growth, our annual sales are around SEK 3.6 billion. We successfully maintained last year’s high sales levels during the first months of this year. We are now looking ahead and are well positioned in the market to benefit from online growth and demand in the Nordics and elsewhere in Europe,” says Hans Ohlsson, CEO of Ellos Group.

“We are, and have always been, impressed by Ellos Group’s strategic position as a Nordic leader in its industry and by the performance of the management team, which has managed to strengthen the company in recent years and expand into strategically important new markets. By becoming owner, Nordic Capital commits, once again, to support the continued growth and success of Ellos Group,” says Robert Furuhjelm, Chairman of FNG Nordic and Partner, Nordic Capital Advisors.

As the new owner of the company, Nordic Capital will actively support Ellos Group in the forthcoming expansion phase. Focus is on continuing to grow the business in the Nordic home market and in selected markets in Europe.

As previously communicated, the existing financing remains in place. FNG Nordic’s bondholders previously approved a change to the terms of FNG Nordic’s bond loan, which rendered the transfer of ownership possible.

In conjunction with the change of ownership, FNG Nordic will change its name.

For more information:
Johan Stigson, CFO, Telephone. +46 (0)33 16 08 05

About Ellos Group 

The Ellos Group, which includes Ellos, Jotex, Stayhard, and Homeroom, is the Nordic region’s leading e-commerce group. Working closely with our millions of customers, we are constantly striving to develop and offer attractive and sustainable fashion and household items for the entire family. Our focus is always on the customer. We continuously work to develop our business through innovation, creativity, and sustainability. The Ellos Group, headquartered in Borås, and with operations in all Nordic countries and selected European markets, has around 600 employees and sales of around SEK 3.6 billion. www.ellosgroup.com

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Baird Capital Portfolio Company SourceDay Raises $31.5M in Series C Funding

Baird Capital

Today, Baird Capital portfolio company SourceDay, a leading supplier collaboration engine for the direct spend industry, and one of Austin’s fastest-growing companies, announced it closed a $31.5 million Series C round of funding. Baird Capital participated in the round of funding—which Norwest Venture Partners led—and was joined in participation from existing investors ATX Ventures, Draper Associates, Ring Ventures and Silverton Partners.

This Series C news comes at a critical time for manufacturers, distributors, consumer packaged goods brands and retailers as they are challenged with continued supply chain disruptions and first-mile issues accelerated by the pandemic. Baird Capital initially invested in SourceDay in April of 2020.

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Ardian announces the sale of its stake in MBK Fincom (ProduceShop) to Gilde Buy Out Partners

Ardian

Ardian, a world-leading private investment house, announces that it has sold its stake in MBK Fincom (“MBK”), known as ProduceShop.

MBK, based in Switzerland, has developed a data-driven technology platform to create a new e-commerce model that gives customers access to a wide range of products. Leveraging its expertise in data analytics, MBK develops and markets its own digital brands across Europe and offers the best value for money for a wide range products, ranging from home furnishings, gardening and fitness equipment.

Alongside its 29 proprietary brands, MBK also sells products from partner brands on its ProduceShop website. MBK’s European presence is growing, with the company now selling in 24 countries, including Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Austria and Switzerland.

Since Ardian Growth took a stake in the company in 2020, MBK has tripled its revenues by accelerating its international development and diversifying its product offerings. It has also strengthened its technological expertise by investing in software tools.

“The partnership with Ardian has enabled us to accelerate our development,. Subsequently, we have rapidly taken on a European dimension while strengthening our internal resources, both human and technological. We are now entering a new chapter in our history and we look forward to working with Gilde in this new stage.” The Co-Founders, MBK

“We were very pleased to work with and support the growth of MBK. This is a perfect example of the entrepreneurial journeys we wish to support: ambitious founders and managers who aim for international development. This transaction follows several European investments in the digital sector, notably in Italy and Germany, and demonstrates our ability to be a strategic partner for European entrepreneurs. We would like to thank the entire MBK team.” Romain Chiudini, Managing Director within the Ardian Growth Team

“MBK is a perfect example of entrepreneurs who continue to innovate, even in the e-commerce market. Thanks to our multi-local European network, recently strengthened by a presence in Italy, and our cross-fertilisation expertise within Ardian’s Growth team, we identify talented entrepreneurs and act as a partner in scaling them up.” Bertrand Schapiro, Managing Director within the Ardian Growth Team

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

  • ARDIAN

    • ROMAIN CHIUDINI, BERTRAND SCHAPIRO, OLIVIER ROY

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian is one of the world’s leading private equity firms with $125 billion under management and/or advice in Europe, America and Asia. The company, which is majority-owned by its employees, has always placed entrepreneurship at the heart of its approach and offers its international investors a first-class performance.
Through its commitment to sharing the value created with all stakeholders, Ardian contributes to the growth of companies and economies around the world.
Building on its values of excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship, Ardian has an international network of over 780 employees in 15 offices in Europe (Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), North America (New York, San Francisco), South America (Santiago) and Asia (Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul). The firm manages funds for 1,200 clients through its five investment pillars: Fund of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.

Follow Ardian on Twitter @Ardian

https://www.ardian.com/

ABOUT MBK FINCOM

MBK Fincom is a dynamic and technology-driven e-commerce company based in Switzerland, active in the sale of home & living branded goods, Europe-wide. MBK co-designs and improves the features of its products in order to offer consumers the best value-for-money option. The mission of MBK is to simplify the online process of research and purchase, including free home delivery. The variety of articles, together with the attention to quality and design, has allowed MBK to grow rapidly into a prominent European leader in the sector.

https://mbkfincom.com/

MEDIA CONTACTS

ARDIAN

HEADLAND

ardian@headlandconsultancy.com

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KKR Leads Series C Round in Philippine B2B Platform GrowSari with US$45 Million Investment

KKR

Transaction marks KKR’s latest technology investment in the merchant enablement space

Latest round to support GrowSari’s expansion and strengthen its financial services capabilities

MANILA, Philippines–(BUSINESS WIRE)– KKR, a leading global investment firm, and GrowSari (the “Company”), a B2B e-commerce platform serving micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (“MSMEs”) in the Philippines, today announced the signing of definitive agreements under which KKR will invest US$45 million to lead GrowSari’s Series C funding round. KKR’s investment in GrowSari will support the Company’s expansion into more regions across the Philippines and strengthen its financial services capabilities.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220125005949/en/

Founded in 2016, GrowSari is a leading tech-enabled B2B platform that helps the Philippines’ small physical retail stores, including neighborhood retail shops (sari-sari stores), roadside and market shops (carinderia), and pharmacies, enhance their service levels and access a wider range of products and value-adding services. This allows the stores to provide local communities with more comprehensive offerings, including digital services.

Today, GrowSari is present in 220 municipalities across the regions of Luzon and offers over a hundred types of different services including making bill payments, telco reloads, and wallet top-ups, as well as procurement services for common retail goods and pharmaceutical medicines. Strong tailwinds around digital adoption, proximity shopping, and economic growth in the Philippines have also contributed to a 6.5x increase in gross merchandise value for GrowSari since 2019 and a 2.5x increase in revenue over the same period. In 2021, the Singapore Venture Capital & Private Equity Association named GrowSari as ‘Venture Capital Deal of the Year.’

Ashish Shastry, Co-Head of Asia Pacific Private Equity and Head of Southeast Asia at KKR, said, “We are pleased to invest in GrowSari, an innovative company with tremendous potential to digitally transform the operations of Filipino MSMEs, who are crucial contributors to the country’s economy and a pillar of the business community. We are excited to support the GrowSari team to achieve their expansion ambitions.”

Speaking on the latest investment, Reymund ‘ER’ Rollan, CEO and Co-Founder of GrowSari, said, “We will be accelerating our presence nationally to more municipalities and cities in the Philippines. Our investments will be focused towards expanding in Visayas and Mindanao this 2022. This will bring us a step closer to our mission of creating a positive socio-economic impact to the lives of more MSME owners and the communities they serve. In addition, we are doubling down on our capabilities to improve the overall customer experience and look to expand our ability to provide sari-sari stores access to credit and basic financial services, which is a key pain point for MSMEs who have limited access. The industry, operational and financial expertise and network of KKR will be a great complement to the passion, dedication and strong culture of excellence that GrowSari has built over the years.”

Louis Casey, KKR’s growth technology lead in Southeast Asia, added, “GrowSari is aligned with one of our core technology investment themes in Southeast Asia, which is supporting MSMEs with software and financial services. Reymund and the team at GrowSari are excellent operators who have built an impressive flywheel that is powered by a number of proprietary applications. They have also built a very efficient and repeatable go-to-market motion that is underpinning their impressive growth. We look to leverage our global experience, regional connectivity and flexible capital to help GrowSari achieve its ambitious growth objectives.”

Prior to KKR’s investment, GrowSari had raised funding from global financial and strategic investors, including Temasek-affiliated Pavilion Capital, Tencent, the International Finance Corporation, the Gokongwei family-controlled JG Summit, Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc., Wavemaker Partners, Saison Capital, and the Investment & Capital Corporation of the Philippines.

The ongoing Series C round is significantly oversubscribed, having drawn keen interest from new and existing investors. The round’s final composition is currently being finalized.

KKR is making its investment in GrowSari from its Asia next generation technology strategy. GrowSari is KKR’s latest investment into companies that augment the digital transformation of MSMEs through software and financial technology. KKR’s global investments in the sector include KiotViet, a merchant platform for MSMEs in Vietnam, Yayoi, a software developer, distributor, and support service provider for small and medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”) in Japan, MYOB, a leading Australian online business management company, NetStars, the operator of Japan’s largest QR code payment gateway, Qonto, a leading European business finance solution for freelances and SMEs in France, Cegid, one of the largest European providers of enterprise software headquartered in France, and Exact Software, a provider of business and accounting software in the Netherlands. Additional details of the transaction are not disclosed.

About KKR

KKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management and capital markets and insurance solutions. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and supporting growth in its portfolio companies and communities. KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR’s insurance subsidiaries offer retirement, life, and reinsurance products under the management of The Global Atlantic Financial Group. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds and insurance subsidiaries. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

About GrowSari

GrowSari started in 2016 as an ordering platform servicing roughly sari-sari stores in three cities. Today, GrowSari powers the management, growth, and analytics infrastructure across 220 municipalities and is now further expanding. In addition to providing credit and affordable, on-demand inventory, GrowSari’s platform also generates crucial data & insights into the operations of these stores for manufacturers and distributors to build their strategies and campaigns upon. GrowSari has also integrated multiple-microservices such as telco load, bills pay, e-commerce, Wi-Fi and other eservices, allowing store-owners to maximize their capital in one wallet and easily expand their business.

GrowSari is certified as a Great Place To Work® in the Philippines. The GrowSari leadership team is composed of young and dynamic industry leaders who built their expertise from working with global corporations and consultancies including P&G, Unilever, J&J, and Boston Consulting Group as well as Uber, Globe Telecom, and GCash.

For KKR:
Wei Jun Ong
+65 6922 5813
WeiJun.Ong@kkr.com

For GrowSari:
Reynaldo Rubio
(+63) 9190733255
reynaldo.Rubio@growsari.com

Source: KKR

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IK Partners to invest in STEIN HGS

IK Partners

IK Partners (“IK”) is pleased to announce that the IK Small Cap III Fund has signed an agreement to acquire STEIN HGS GmbH (“STEIN HGS” or “the Company”), a leading B2B e-commerce specialist for barrier technology, municipality, construction site and facility management supplies. IK is investing from its dedicated pool of Development Capital and is acquiring its stake from Lennertz & Co. (“Lennertz”) and the founder, Bodo Stein; both of whom will be reinvesting alongside IK. Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

STEIN HGS was established in 1999 by Bodo Stein and is headquartered in Seevetal, close to Hamburg. Since then, it has evolved to become the leading online retailer in its market segment with 30 employees. It serves a broad range of long-standing private and public sector customers, including small and large construction firms, local craftsmen, municipalities and facilities management firms.

With the support of Lennertz since 2019, STEIN HGS has managed to successfully grow and diversify its offering and increase its presence across its key markets. Today, it has an offering of around 200,000 individual items on its online platforms with a loyal and growing customer base.

Through this new partnership with IK, STEIN HGS aims to further develop through continued new customer acquisitions, broadening and expanding the e-commerce offering and increasing the product range. The Company will continue to be led by the CEO Stephan Otte and his team.

Stephan Otte, Chief Executive Officer at STEIN HGS, said: “We strongly feel that a partnership between STEIN HGS, IK, Lennertz and Bodo Stein will form a solid basis on which we can further develop and achieve our growth strategy. Since inception, we have continuously grown our platform and with the collaborative efforts of all investors, we are confident of achieving our joint strategic vision.”

Erol Ali Dervis, Private Equity Manager at Lennertz said: “We’re delighted with the progress STEIN HGS has made since 2019, supporting them in their growth and seizing many opportunities in the fragmented market in which they operate. With the addition of IK as an investor, we are looking forward to building upon this and strategically enhancing the Company’s position.”

Ingmar Bär, Director at IK Partners and Advisor to the IK Small Cap III Fund, said: “STEIN HGS occupies the leading position in a growing market due to the shift towards online purchasing and the Company’s strong focus on delivering the best-in-class customer service. We look forward to partnering with Stephan Otte and his team as they continue to expand the product offering and customer base while entering new markets.”

Completion of the transaction is subject to legal and regulatory approvals.

For further questions, please contact:
IK Partners
Vidya Verlkumar
Phone: +44 (0) 7787 558 193
vidya.verlkumar@ikpartners.com

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Online auction house is acquired by private equity funds managed by Castik Capital – TBAuctions on path to becoming Europe’s largest online auction platform

Castik Capital

 

TBAuctions, created in 2018 via the merger of Troostwijk Auctions (B2B auctions) and BVA Auctions (B2C auctions), will be acquired by funds managed by Castik Capital, a manager of private equity funds focused on partnering with strong management teams to create market leaders through organic growth and buy & build. The acquisition will enable TBAuctions to accelerate its growth across the European online auction market through continued organic expansion supplemented by strategic acquisitions. Since the merger in 2018, TBAuctions has made significant investments in developing a state-of-the-art, scalable IT platform called ATLAS, which enables the business to scale and integrate future acquisitions across Europe seamlessly.

The proposed acquisition is still subject to approval by the Works Council and The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), the closing is expected at the end of this year.

Leading online auction platform

ATLAS is a clear differentiator for TBAuctions to drive the growth of the online auction space. “We see that other auction houses could only facilitate their growth and transition from physical auctions to online auctions by making substantial investments in their IT“, says Herberth Samsom, CEO of TBAuctions. “Together with the support of Castik Capital we can become one of the leading European online auction platforms. I foresee continued growth of the online auction market in Europe, in which TBAuctions will play a prominent role.”

Powerful backbone with many storefronts

The growth ambition of TBAuctions, which is already present in eight European countries, has already led to an increasing pace of add-on acquisitions. The most recent is the acquisition of the Belgian company Vavato, one of the largest online auction players in the Belgian B2B and B2C market. Just like Troostwijk Auctions and BVA Auctions, Vavato will continue to operate with its own brand and online storefront within the TBAuctions group. This perfectly fits the strategy of TBAuctions of using its own scalable IT platform to auction everything from small consumer goods to complete industrial inventories and real property. Acquired companies are quickly and efficiently integrated onto the TBAuctions IT backbone, and can thus immediately benefit from the scale and efficiency as well as marketing and back-office support of TBAuctions. For sellers this means unparalleled service and a larger addressable market, and for buyers an even greater diversity of offered items.

Circular economy

According to Michael Phillips, Investment Partner at Castik Capital, TBAuctions plays an important role in the global move towards a circular economy. “Sustainable consumption – which TBAuctions is actively driving through finding new homes for second hand and second chance goods – is at the heart of the global ESG agenda. Castik is proud to support TBAuctions’ mission and believes that the company is uniquely positioned to establish itself as one of Europe’s leading online auction platforms. Especially now, as we are facing a scarcity of equipment availability due to supply chain disruptions, TBAuctions is the online platform that brings together supply and demand in Europe and beyond. We are proud that we can make an important contribution to this with our most recent partnership investment in TBAuctions.”

Accelerating growth

“After the merger in 2018, we focused strongly on organic growth of sellers and bidders and the efficiency of our processes. The most important aspect of this was the development of our proprietary IT Platform ATLAS,” says Samsom. “If you look at the digitization of e-commerce in general, it is striking that the world of ‘second hand’ is lagging behind in terms of digitization. This offers us unique opportunities in the marketplace. We are now ready to accelerate our growth together with our new partner Castik Capital. Castik is known for investing strongly in both organic and inorganic growth which perfectly resonates with our ambitions and goals.“

In an extensive market due diligence carried out by Castik Capital, it was found that the European online auction market is highly fragmented and comprises largely of ‘local champions’ with strong regional focus and limited international scale. The exciting vision emerged that “we are at the beginning of a potential pan-European market consolidation, which is underpinned by technological development.” Michael Phillips of Castik Capital said. “TBAuctions is uniquely positioned via its state-of-the-art ATLAS platform in actively driving accelerated organic and inorganic growth.”

Europe first

TBAuctions’ management team and employees will remain significant shareholders in the group. The management has unanimously indicated that it wants to drive market-leading growth in the coming years. Samsom: “For now we will first concentrate all our efforts on the fragmented European auction market. After that, we will see where our journey takes us.”

Advisors

TBAuctions was advised by Rothschild & Co

Castik was advised by BCG, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Emendo, PwC, Houthoff, Netlight, Houlihan Lokey, and Etribes.

About TBAuctions

TBAuctions is a leading online auction platform and marketplace for second hand and second chance goods, operating through the brands Troostwijk Auctions (B2B) and BVA Auctions (B2C) and since November 2021 also the Belgian brand Vavato. TBAuctions auctions movable and immovable goods on behalf of third parties through ATLAS, its proprietary IT platform for intelligent auctioning (IA). With over 13,000 auctions/2.75 million lots per year and over 10 million website visitors per month, TBAuctions is one of the largest online auctioneers in Europe. For more information about TBAuctions, see: www.tbauctions.com.

About Castik Capital

Castik Capital manages private equity investments. Castik Capital is a European Private Equity firm that acquires majority stakes in private and public companies, where long-term value can be generated through active partnerships with management teams­. Founded in 2014, Castik Capital is based in Luxembourg and focuses on identifying and developing investment opportunities across Europe. Castik Capital’s advisor is Castik Capital Partners GmbH, based in Munich, Germany. Investments are made by the Luxembourg-based fund, EPIC II, the second fund managed by Castik, which had its final fund close of €1.25bn in October 2020. For more information on Castik, please visit www.castik.com.

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Practice Ignition raises $50M USD to supercharge growth for category-defining client engagement and commerce platform

JMI Equity

Tech scale-up on ambitious path to transform how professional services businesses engage clients, and get paid.

Sydney, Australia, November 18th — Practice Ignition, the world’s first client engagement and commerce platform for professional services businesses, has raised $USD50M ($AUD65M) in a Series C funding round to fuel hyper growth and scale globally.

The funding round was led by US-based JMI Equity and marks JMI’s first ever investment in Australia. Participating alongside JMI in this fundraise were existing investors Tiger Global, EVP and a number of other strategic angel investors and family office groups.

The fast-growing scale-up was founded in 2013 by accounting entrepreneur Guy Pearson and product designer Dane Thomas, with a vision to transform client engagement in professional services. Frustrated by antiquated manual processes, and late payments from clients, the pair launched Practice Ignition to help accountants and bookkeepers grow, be more efficient, and create win-win client relationships.

Practice Ignition has experienced tremendous growth since launching in 2013, almost doubling client revenues facilitated via the platform in 2021. With thousands of customers across six markets and over US$2 billion in client revenue under management, the business is on track to drive significant growth in 2022 and beyond.

Guy Pearson, CEO and Co-founder of Practice Ignition said the company is gearing up for a substantial shift as the global professional services industry faces mounting pressure to digitise their operations and customer interactions in light of COVID-19, which has accelerated digital transformation globally.

“As the world moves online, many accountants and bookkeepers are having to rapidly shift their business practices and functions to be fully digital overnight. This, together with the transition of accounting from tax compliance to advisory, means that the need to deliver engaging, quality customer interactions via technology is critical for closing deals, boosting profitability and winning and retaining clients.”

“We are creating a new category with our client engagement and commerce platform, and we’re only scratching the surface when it comes to market penetration in the global professional services industry. We are confident that the wealth of knowledge and experience JMI brings, through their long history of backing high-growth technology businesses, will be invaluable in helping us capture market share rapidly as we enter this next phase of growth.”

Practice Ignition is on an ambitious path to reshape the way the professional services industry does business with its customers through its all-in-one client engagement & commerce solution. Its unique platform integrates digital proposals, payments and automated workflows via leading business apps such as Gusto, Xero, Quickbooks and Zapier to streamline service-based commerce.

Funds raised from Series C will enable Practice Ignition to double down on growing its core key markets in APAC, North America and EMEA through further product development and enhanced marketing and sales capabilities. It will also turbocharge the company’s international expansion plans with a focus on the US through its strategic partnerships with Gusto, Intuit and Thomson Reuters.

Sureel Sheth, Principal at JMI Equity said, “Guy, Dane and the team at Practice Ignition have built a category-defining business with a world-class team.  We have been impressed by the strength of the product, the engaged and loyal customer base and the enormous potential for growth and scale globally. As an emerging leader in the accounting and broader professional services markets, Practice Ignition’s culture of innovation is unparalleled in the sector and we’re thrilled to partner as Practice Ignition embarks on this next phase of international expansion.

“Practice Ignition has all the hallmarks of a world-class SaaS platform,” said Howard Leibman, Founder of EVP. “The platform addresses a very real need amongst mid-market professional service firms to streamline and automate their processes. The high level of customer advocacy speaks to the product’s success in driving real bottom-line impact for the thousands of such firms already on the platform. With Practice Ignition having established a strong global footprint, we’re excited to continue supporting Guy, Dane and the team through the next stage of growth.”

The Series C capital raise follows a series of announcements in product innovation and growth for Practice Ignition. The company recently unveiled a partnership with Gusto to accelerate adoption and knowledge of People Advisory services.  It also announced plans to establish a new R&D team in Toronto, supporting the company’s innovation and customer expansion goals in North America, and contributing to the significant career opportunities within its high performing team globally.

About Practice Ignition

Practice Ignition is the world’s first client engagement and commerce platform for professional services businesses to streamline how they engage clients and get paid. Thousands of accounting and professional services firms around the world use Practice Ignition to win new business with impressive digital proposals, engage clients with a clear scope of work, and get paid on time by automating payment collection. Practice Ignition also integrates with leading business apps such as Gusto, QuickBooks, Xero and Zapier to automate time-consuming tasks. Founded in 2013 by a progressive accounting entrepreneur to find a better way of doing business, our goal is to help customers grow, be more efficient, and create win-win client relationships. To date, we’ve helped facilitate more than 1 Million client engagements and over $2 Billion in client payments. Practice Ignition  has offices in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Philippines, South Africa, US and the UK, with over 150 employees globally.

About JMI

JMI Equity is a growth equity firm focused on investing in leading software companies. Founded in 1992, JMI has invested in over 165 businesses in its target markets, successfully completed over 110 exits, and raised more than $6 billion of committed capital. JMI partners with exceptional management teams to help build their companies into industry leaders. For more information, visit www.jmi.com.

Media contact

Eva Yao

Sling & Stone

+61 449 899 618

eva@slingstone.com

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Ardian sells its minority stake in Berlin Brands Group, a global e-commerce company, to Bain Capital

Ardian

Berlin / Frankfurt am Main, September 1, 2021 – Ardian, a world leading private investment house, has signed an agreement with Bain Capital to sell its c.40-per cent minority stake in Berlin Brands Group (“BBG”), a global e-commerce company based in Berlin. Both parties have agreed not to disclose financial details of the transaction, which is still subject to the approval of the relevant regulatory authorities. Peter Chaljawski, the founder, CEO and majority shareholder, will continue to manage the company as the majority shareholder.

Berlin Brands Group is a global e-commerce company and a pioneer in direct brand marketing to end consumers (direct-to-consumer). The multi-brand company currently sells its 34 brands and 3,700 products via 100 online channels in 28 countries. The brands encompass the household appliances, consumer electronics, gardening and fitness equipment segments, and include Klarstein (klarstein.de), auna (auna.de), blumfeldt (blumfeldt.de) and Capital Sports (capitalsports.de). The company, which has been profitable since inception, currently has more than 900 employees across five countries and generated a turnover of EUR 334 million in 2020. Since Ardian became a shareholder in 2015, turnover has increased approximately fivefold, with the company’s number of employees having tripled. Through its sales channels in more than 20 European countries, the USA, China and Turkey, BBG offers its brands to more than 1.5 billion active customers globally. The company’s brand portfolio is represented on all major e-commerce platforms and is one of the world’s leading marketplace sellers on Amazon. To date, BBG generates the majority of its sales through its own brand shops. In December 2020, the company announced a comprehensive M&A strategy focussed on acquiring, integrating and scaling e-commerce brands across its platform.

Peter Chaljawski, founder and CEO of BBG, said: “As a pioneer in the direct-to-consumer business, we create, develop, buy and scale brands worldwide. With the support of Ardian, we have expanded our position worldwide as a trendsetting and agile multi-brand company. Our formula for success is to optimally combine in-depth knowledge in e-commerce with innovative brand building in order to offer our customers vibrant and attractive product worlds at an excellent price-performance ratio. Ardian has not only supported us with financial resources but has played an important role as an entrepreneurial partner and with its network in our successful internationalization, the creation of our own logistics and the development of an M&A strategy.”

Marc Abadir, Managing Director within the Ardian Expansion team in Germany, added: „BBG’s management and employees have an outstanding instinct for the trends of the future in the consumer sector and build them at an early stage with brands and products that convince consumers and testers alike. As a platform for well-known e-commerce brands, BBG has also clearly demonstrated its ability to acquire and integrate new brands. As a result, the company was able to increase its sales approximately fivefold during the period of our commitment. We are proud to have accompanied BBG on this path and have enjoyed the very strong partnership with Peter Chaljawski and his team.“

PARTIES TO THE TRANSACTION

  • Ardian Team:

    • Marc Abadir, Yannic Metzger, Janine Paustian

  • Legal:

    • Willkie Farr & Gallagher (Dr. Maximilian Schwab), Raue (Prof. Dr. Andreas Nelle)

  • Financial:

    • Deloitte (Tanya Fehr)

  • Tax:

    • Taxess (Gerald Thomas)

  • Commercial:

    • McKinsey (Dr. Holger Klärner)

  • M&A Adviser:

    • GCA Altium (Tobias Schultheiss)

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$114bn managed or advised in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The company is majority-owned by its employees. It keeps entrepreneurship at its heart and focuses on delivering excellent investment performance to its global investor base.
Through its commitment to shared outcomes for all stakeholders, Ardian’s activities fuel individual, corporate and economic growth around the world.
Holding close its core values of excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship, Ardian maintains a truly global network, with more than 780 employees working from fifteen offices across Europe (Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), the Americas (New York, San Francisco and Santiago) and Asia (Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul). It manages funds on behalf of more than 1,200 clients through five pillars of investment expertise: Fund of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.
Ardian on Twitter @Ardian

www.ardian.com

ABOUT BERLIN BRANDS GROUP

Berlin Brands Group (BBG) is a global e-commerce company and one of the pioneers in the direct-to-consumer business. The Berlin-based hidden champion currently sells over 3,700 everyday and trendy products across 34 of its own e-commerce brands. The goal: to become one of the world’s leading e-commerce companies with a ‘global house of digital brands’.

www.berlin-brands-group.com

PRESS CONTACTS

ARDIAN – CHARLES BARKER CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS

PETER STEINER

ardian@charlesbarker.de Tel: +49 69 79409027

TOBIAS EBERLE

ardian@charlesbarker.de Tel: +49 69 79409024

BERLIN BRANDS GROUP

HOSCHKE & CONSORTEN PUBLIC RELATIONS GMBH Andreas Hoschke

a.hoschke@hoschke.de Tel: 040 36 90 50 55

BERLIN BRANDS GROUP

press@go-bbg.com  

BAIN CAPITAL

CAMARCO

baincapital@camarco.co.uk  

JULIA TILLEY

Tel: +44 7815 068 387

GEORGINA WHITTLE

Tel: +44 7835 770 967

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