Mecenat to partner with IK Investment Partners

admin June 7, 2021

IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is pleased to announce that funds advised by IK will be investing in Mecenat Holding AB (“Mecenat” or “the Company”). Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

Mecenat is a leading marketing technology company which promotes unique discounts to its community of students and young professionals. The Company is headquartered in Gothenburg and operates across Sweden with over 4,500 vendors offering discounts and deals to more than 1.2 million students and recent graduates.

The Company was founded in 1998 by its CEO Jonas Levin and has pioneered the Swedish student discount market. The platform provides special offers across a range of products and services, including electronics, clothing, books, entertainment, sport, food and health. Notable brands include Apple, Adobe, Adidas and ASOS, in addition to service and transport providers such as state-owned train operator SJ.

Since 2018, Mecenat has extended its membership to include university alumni, expanding the platform’s reach and growth potential even further. Funds advised by IK will be investing in the business alongside Jonas Levin, who will remain as CEO. With the support of IK, Mecenat plans to build on its success and further develop its technology platform in order to ensure a continued relevant and trusted offering towards students as well as young professionals.

Jonas Levin, Founder and CEO of Mecenat, commented: “We are excited to be partnering with IK as we enter the next stage of our journey. Our success to date has been driven by remaining relevant for tomorrow’s trendsetters and students by developing our technology to connect them with the most appealing products and services from today’s leading brands. With IK’s support, we aim to further develop our business by expanding into complementary affinity groups and ensuring we remain the top-of-mind marketing channel for reaching students and young professionals.

Carl Jakobsson, Director at IK Investment Partners and Advisor to IK funds, said: “Mecenat is synonymous with trusted and unique student discounts in Sweden and has demonstrated an impressive ability to adapt to the changing dynamics of this demographic over the last two decades. We are highly excited about partnering with Jonas and his team on continuing the journey of building the Nordics’ leading marketing channel within and beyond the current affinity group focus.”

For further questions, please contact:

IK Investment Partners
Maitland/AMO
James McFarlane
Phone: +44 (0) 7584 142 665
Email: jmcfarlane@maitland.co.uk

IK Investment Partners

IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is a Pan-European private equity firm focused on investments in the Benelux, DACH, France, Nordics and the UK. Since 1989, IK has raised more than €14 billion of capital and invested in 150 European companies. IK supports companies with strong underlying potential, partnering with management teams and investors to create robust, well-positioned businesses with excellent long-term prospects. For more information, visit www.ikinvest.com

Mecenat

Mecenat is a leading Swedish marketing technology company specialising in the delivery of world-class student discount schemes through proprietary technology. Mecenat prides itself on negotiating the very best discounts for students, alumni and young professionals; and working in close partnership with student unions, universities as well as top and emerging brands. For more information, visit www.mecenat.com

Categories: News

Tags: Consumer brands eCommerce Marketing

Endeit Capital invests in German-based parcelLab

admin May 7, 2021

First investment in newly-minted Third Fund

ParcelLab, the leading Operations Experience Management platform, announced today that it has secured a $112 million Series C funding round led by Insights Partners with Endeit Capital co-investing. Existing investors Capnamic Ventures and Coparion also contributed again. The new funding will fuel parcelLab’s global expansion and accelerate its mission to bring people and brands closer together.

ParcelLab was founded in 2015 by Tobias Buxhoidt (CEO), Julian Krenge (CTO) and Anton Eder (COO) and is headquartered in Munich. The company is focused on adding customer experience and visibility into online post-purchase, operational processes that are traditionally opaque and full of friction.

As e-commerce becomes increasingly competitive, providing unique branded experiences will drive growth. Identifying opportunities to connect with people post-sales and build better relationships is a key differentiator. Brands that are leveraging Operations Experience Management are transforming operational complexity into opportunities to outperform in the market.

Household names like as IKEA, Puma and Lidl have partnered with parcelLab to transform their Operations Experiences. ParcelLab operates globally in 153 countries, is integrated with 150+ carriers and sends out seven million pro-active and personalized communications every day. The company boasts impressive conversion rates and performance stats, with double-digit basket increases, over 90% open rate on emails, 25% reduction in ‘Where Is My Order?’ questions and triple-digit increase of customer reviews.

ParcelLab is the first investment of Endeit Capital’s Fund III , which is set to invest 250 million euro in Europe’s digital sovereignty over the coming years. ParcelLab will use the funding to accelerate global expansion, extend the product suite, expand into new sectors and search for fresh talent across the globe (fully remote).

The mission of the ParcelLab team is to provide their customers with a best-in-class product. As entrepreneurs who can drive the change to make Europe more competitive and who have the ambition to become global market leaders, ParcelLab is the perfect fit for Endeit Capital’s Fund III, which builds on Endeit’s buy & build experience in growing businesses in over 25 countries.

Categories: News

Tags: eCommerce

Clearlake to make Strategic Investment in Web.com

admin January 5, 2021

Web Presence Market Leader Poised for Accelerated Growth

Santa Monica, CA, New York, NY, and Jacksonville, FL – January 5, 2021 – Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. (together with its affiliates, “Clearlake”) announced today it has signed an agreement for a strategic investment in Web.com Group, Inc. (“Web.com” or the “Company”). Affiliates of Siris Capital Group, LLC (“Siris”), which acquired the Company in 2018, will remain significant equityholders in the platform together with Clearlake. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, Web.com is a leading platform that enables businesses to establish, maintain, promote, and optimize their online presence. Web.com offers domain registration, hosting, website, and marketing services for businesses globally. For more than 20 years, the Company has provided more than three million customers with competitive online solutions to support their changing business needs and drive results.

“Web.com provides market-leading web presence services in an attractive market segment that is seeing strong growth driven by accelerating digital transformation of small-and-medium sized businesses,” said James Pade, Partner, of Clearlake. “We look forward to partnering with Siris and leveraging Clearlake’s O.P.S.^® playbook to accelerate growth.”

“This investment recognizes the strong execution of the Web.com team in providing best-in-class web presence solutions and delivering profitable growth,” said Tyler Sipprelle, Managing Director, of Siris. “Web.com has bright prospects as a global, multi-brand web technology company, and we welcome Clearlake’s support of the business’s future growth.”

About Web.com

Web.com Group is a leading web technology company serving millions of customers around the world. Through our portfolio of brands – Network Solutions, Register.com, Web.com, CrazyDomains – we help customers of all sizes build an online presence that delivers results. Web has the breadth of capabilities and depth of knowledge to be your go-to partner in today’s always-on digital world. With our extensive product offerings and personalized support, we take pride in partnering with our customers to serve their online presence needs. Learn more at www.web.com.

About Clearlake

Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. is a leading investment firm founded in 2006 operating integrated businesses across private equity, credit and other related strategies. With a sector-focused approach, the firm seeks to partner with world-class management teams by providing patient, long-term capital to dynamic businesses that can benefit from Clearlake’s operational improvement approach, O.P.S.^® The firm’s core target sectors are technology, industrials and consumer. Clearlake currently has approximately $25 billion of assets under management and its senior investment principals have led or co-led over 200 investments. The firm has offices in Santa Monica and Dallas. More information is available at www.clearlake.com and on Twitter @ClearlakeCap.

About Siris

Siris is a leading private equity firm that invests primarily in mature technology and telecommunications companies with mission-critical products and services, facing industry changes or other significant transitions. Siris’ development of proprietary research to identify opportunities and its extensive collaboration with its Executive Partners are integral to its approach. Siris’ Executive Partners are experienced senior operating executives that actively participate in key aspects of the transaction lifecycle to help identify opportunities and drive strategic and operational value. Siris is based in New York and Silicon Valley and has raised nearly $6 billion in cumulative capital commitments. www.siris.com.

Media Contacts

For Web.com:
Alex Sheehan
Finn Partners
+1 415-348-2734
webdotcom@finnpartners.com

For Clearlake:
Jennifer Hurson
Lambert & Co.
+1 845-507-0571
jhurson@lambert.com

For Siris:
Dana Gorman
Abernathy MacGregor
+1 212-371-5999
dtg@abmac.com

Blair Hennessy
Abernathy MacGregor
+1 212-371-5999
bth@abmac.com

Categories: News

Tags: eCommerce

Bolt Raises $75M, Reinforcing its Position as a Disruptive Online Checkout Platform

admin January 3, 2021

After creating a network of millions of shoppers through hundreds of retailers, Bolt One Click introduced to help power the easiest possible shopping experience

December 21, 2020

Bolt, a leading e-commerce platform enabling fast, easy, and secure checkouts, is announcing $75M in new funding, for a total of $215M raised to-date. This latest round is co-led by General Atlantic and WestCap, two leading growth equity firms, with participation from existing investors Activant Capital and Tribe Capital. Angel investors in Bolt include founders and retail executives at Allbirds, Athleta, Crocs, Jet.com, and REVOLVE, as well as technology executives from Venmo, PayPal, and Magento.

Bolt processed over $1B in retail transactions this year, experienced a 10x increase in the size of its Bolt One Click shopper network, and is adding more than 250,000 shoppers every month. Bolt One Click is fueling this growth by exponentially increasing the number of fast checkouts among shoppers. Shoppers with an account are 60% more likely to complete a purchase when visiting a retail site that leverages Bolt. Today, Bolt also released a new report that looks at the impact of the Bolt network in detail.

After a shopper registers for a Bolt One Click account at checkout, they benefit from a seamless checkout experience at any of the hundreds of shopping sites that utilize Bolt for checkout. More than 90% of Bolt retailers have benefitted from this network effect by serving customers that have already made purchases with Bolt at another retailer. The rate of cross-retailer activity is growing rapidly, up 25x since the beginning of the year.

The power of Bolt One Click comes from having an enterprise retailer network with millions of shoppers. Should a shopper purchase high heels online from Badgley Mischka, they’ll benefit from the same checkout experience when they buy mascara from Milk Makeup or a new shirt from Forever 21. Should a customer purchase a watch from Swiss Gear, Bolt One Click checkout will be the default when buying camping gear from Shiftpod or a Hypervolt from Hyperice.

“We’ve spent the last five years building new capabilities, iterating on our product, and listening to customers, all so that we could get to where we are today. By first mastering the checkout experience and building a comprehensive platform, we’re now able to help retailers take advantage of our massive network of shoppers to deliver one click checkout that works even when visiting a store for the first time,” said Ryan Breslow, Founder & CEO, Bolt. “By bringing together an expert team from companies like Braintree, Stripe, Square, and Uber, we’ve solved some of the toughest and most intricate challenges associated with checkout so that any brand can trust us with what we consider to be the most crucial part of the shopper experience.”

Bolt has established itself as a leading checkout option that provides everything a retailer needs to connect with shoppers directly so they can drive loyalty and sell more. Unlike checkout plugins or wallets that add additional buttons or options that may interfere with the brand experience, Bolt is a comprehensive solution that replaces and streamlines a retailer’s default checkout. Bolt allows businesses to unify the shopper experience through custom branding, targeted merchandise upselling, and special promotions, all of which are key revenue drivers for retailers. Bolt also offers critical enterprise capabilities, such as support for alternative payment methods, integrations into back-office systems, in-depth shopper analytics, and end-to-end fraud protection.

“We’re very excited by Bolt’s innovation in creating a holistic checkout platform and bringing it to the market. We believe that this is something that retailers need, and we see checkout as an increasingly critical category in commerce,” said Anton Levy, Co-President, Managing Director, and Global Head of Technology investing at General Atlantic. “On top of this, Bolt’s One Click shopper network is growing significantly and shows real potential to level the playing field for independent brands. We’re thrilled to partner with Ryan and the Bolt team to prepare for rapid scale.”

“By bringing together speed, accuracy, and elegant design into a single best-in-class checkout platform, Bolt is changing consumer expectations for online shoppers,” said Laurence Tosi, Managing Partner and Founder, WestCap. “With more than three million shoppers in their fast growing network, Bolt offers a delightful experience for consumers visiting their favorite retailers while boosting conversion and revenue for the world’s best brands that are prioritizing checkout experience.”

Last month, Bolt announced a strategic partnership with Authentic Brand Group (ABG), one of the largest brand management companies in the world, with more than $14 billion in annual sales. The two will work together to bring a unified and seamless checkout experience across ABG retailers, allowing the company to improve the shopper experience and drive loyalty across its portfolio. Bolt is already live with Forever21 and plans to expand to other ABG portfolio companies, including Lucky Brand, Brooks Brothers, Aéropostale, Juicy Couture, Nine West, Volcom, and Nautica.

“Our partnership with Bolt allows Forever 21 the ability to push the envelope and modernizes the brands ecommerce business,” said Daniel Kulle, CEO of Forever 21. “Bolt supports our vision to make our shopping experience effortless and now enables us to offer one-click check out to the Forever 21 customer.”

About General Atlantic

General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support for growth companies. Established in 1980, General Atlantic combines a collaborative global approach, sector specific expertise, a long-term investment horizon and a deep understanding of growth drivers to partner with great entrepreneurs and management teams to build market-leading businesses worldwide. General Atlantic has more than 175 investment professionals based in New York, Amsterdam, Beijing, Greenwich, Hong Kong, Jakarta, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Munich, Palo Alto, São Paulo, Shanghai and Singapore. For more information on General Atlantic, please visit the website: www.generalatlantic.com.

Media Contacts

Mary Armstrong & Emily Japlon
General Atlantic media@generalatlantic.com

Emilie Gerber
Bolt emilie.gerber@bolt.com

Categories: News

Tags: eCommerce

Permira Funds to Acquire Majority Stake in Boats Group from Funds Advised by Apax Partners

admin December 29, 2020

29 December 2020

MIAMI – December 29, 2020 – Boats Group, a leading online classifieds marketplace and technology provider for the recreational marine industry, today announced that a company backed by the Permira funds has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Boats Group from funds advised by Apax Partners. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Through its industry-leading brands – YachtWorld, Boat Trader, boats.com, Cosas De Barcos, Annonces du Bateau and Botentekoop – and integrated suite of data, marketing software and workflow tools, Boats Group’s global marketplaces connect millions of buyers and sellers of boats. Headquartered in Miami, Boats Group provides over 4,000 brokers and dealers in more than 140 countries with a comprehensive suite of technology-based marketing and software solutions, enabling them to effectively reach in-market consumers, improve their overall profitability, and manage their operations.

“Boating has never been more popular and as the foremost digital classifieds marketplace and technology provider for the industry, our growth potential has never been greater,” said Sam Fulton, CEO, Boats Group. “Apax has been a tremendous partner in our most recent phase of growth, providing leading strategies from their digital marketplace experience. As we continue to build upon this foundation, we believe that Permira is the ideal partner for our next chapter of growth given the firm’s clear strategic vision and experience supporting successful online marketplaces. Looking ahead, we are confident we will be able to deliver more value across our platform by providing our customers with enhanced solutions and offer an exceptional experience that will help consumers around the world find the boat they love.”

“Boats Group’s ability to provide boat buyers and sellers with differentiated, network-effects powered services and solutions has made it the definitive platform for the recreational boating space, attracted a very loyal customer base, and propelled stand-out growth and profitability,” said David Erlong, Principal at Permira. “The recreational marine industry is still in the very early innings of its digitization journey with many unmet needs. We look forward to backing Sam and his team as they expand both internationally as well as into new products and services that fill these gaps to delight our consumers and customers.”

Steve Kooyers, Partner at Apax Partners, said: “When the Apax Funds carved Boats Group out of Dominion Enterprises, we saw an opportunity to accelerate growth at a well-positioned marketplace by recruiting a world class management team, investing in product innovation, and leveraging our extensive history of online classified investments. It’s been a pleasure to partner with Sam and the team to drive value for boaters, dealers, brokers and OEMs throughout North America and Europe.”

Marcelo Gigliani, Partner at Apax Partners, added “The team’s extraordinary execution is evidenced in Boats Group’s consistent growth in traffic and engagement, which have further reinforced its position as the clear leader in all its markets. We wish Boats Group and its team the very best in the years ahead.”

RBC Capital Markets served as financial advisor to Permira, and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP provided legal counsel. Evercore served as financial advisor to Apax Partners and Boats Group, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP provided legal counsel. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021.

About Boats Group
Boats Group owns and operates leading online boating marketplaces around the world and have been partners to brokers, dealers and OEMs in the boating industry for over 20 years. Boats Group also provides marine businesses with a comprehensive suite of technology-based marketing solutions, including advertising, lead generation, CRM, website design and hosting. Additionally, Boats Group supports brokers and dealers by providing services through its YachtCloser contract management solution, and BoatWizard, the industry’s leading inventory management system and MLS. Boats Group is headquartered in Miami, Florida, United States, with additional offices in Fareham, England, Padova, Italy and Barcelona, Spain.

About Permira
Permira is a global investment firm. Founded in 1985, the firm advises funds with a total committed capital of approximately US$50bn (€44bn) to make long-term investments in companies with the objective of transforming their performance and driving sustainable growth. The Permira funds have made over 250 private equity investments in four key sectors: Technology, Consumer, Services, and Healthcare. Permira employs over 250 people in 14 offices across Europe, North America, and Asia. The Permira funds have extensive experience investing in consumer internet and online marketplaces globally, including investments in Ancestry.com, LegalZoom, Allegro, The Knot Worldwide, FlixMoblity, Zwift, Catawiki and Full Truck Alliance.

About Apax Partners LLP
Apax Partners is a leading global private equity advisory firm. Over its more than 40-year history, Apax Partners has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments of approximately $50 billion. The Apax Funds invest in companies across four global sectors of Tech & Telco, Services, Healthcare and Consumer. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. For more information see: www.apax.com.

The Apax Funds have a strong track record of investing in online marketplace businesses throughout Europe North America and Asia, and have invested over €3 billion of equity in 11 companies that operate some of the world’s leading online marketplaces for real estate, automotive and consumer financial products. Other digital marketplace investments by the Apax Funds include AutoTrader (UK), Idealista, SouFun, Trader Corporation, Trade Me, and Baltic Classifieds Group.

Contacts

For Permira

Nina Suter
Head of Communications
Tel: +44 (0) 207 632 4037
Email: Nina.suter@permira.com

Sard Verbinnen & Co
Brooke Gordon / Megan Bouchier / Devin Broda
Email: Permira-SVC@SARDVERB.com

For Apax Partners

Katarina Sallerfors
Tel: +44 207 872 6526
Email:katarina.sallerfors@apax.com

Kekst CNC
Tel: +1 212 521 4854
Email: todd.fogarty@kekstcnc.com

Greenbrook
Tel: +44 20 7295 2000
Email:apax@greenbrookpr.com

Categories: News

Tags: eCommerce

PAI MMF enters into exclusive negotiations for the acquisition of a majority stake in MyFlower

admin December 23, 2020

PAI MMF enters into exclusive negotiations with LFPI and Montefiore Investment for the acquisition of a majority stake in MyFlower, the leading European flower and gift digital platform operating the Interflora brand in key European markets including France, Denmark, Iberia and Italy

PAI Partners (“PAI”), a leading European private equity firm, through its fund dedicated to mid-market opportunities, PAI Mid-Market Fund (“PAI MMF”), today announces that it has entered into exclusive negotiations for the acquisition of a majority stake in MyFlower, a leading European flower and gift digital platform, from LFPI and Montefiore Investment.

MyFlower operates a portfolio of leading complementary gifting brands including Interflora, the iconic European flower and gift brand in France, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, Iceland and Romania. Other brands operated by MyFlower include BeBloom, a direct-to-consumer flower and gift website in France; cadeaux.com, a leading player in online personalised gifts in France; and chocolats-louis.com, a nascent chocolate and other gourmet products boxes website. Together, these brands generate approximately 30 million visits online every year and, in partnership with Interflora’s network of c.9,000 affiliated florists, they delivered around four million flower bouquets and gifts to customers across Europe in 2020.

Under the impulsion of LFPI and Montefiore Investment, MyFlower has turned from a French floral transmission player into a leading pan-European gift digital platform, generating over 80% of its sales volume online. MyFlower announced last week the acquisition of Interflora Italy and will continue to share its expertise in digital customer experience and its ability to innovate and offer new services. The company’s strategy is to pursue this transformation through the introduction of new flower and gift products, continued investment in digital capabilities, the strengthening of customer experience and further expansion across Europe. PAI intends to support the existing management team in these development plans through providing access to its well-established international platform and network, and its extensive experience of digitalising consumer companies.

The transaction would be the third investment announced by PAI MMF since its launch in 2020, following the acquisitions of Amplitude Surgical, a French leader in the lower limb orthopedic prostheses market, and Angulas Aguinaga, the Spanish leader in modern fish and fish-based ready meal solutions.

The acquisition of MyFlower would remain subject to consultation with the relevant works councils, as well as customary regulatory approvals, and would be expected to complete in Q1 2021.

Stefano Drago, Partner at PAI Partners, said: “We are delighted to be given the opportunity to invest in MyFlower, a truly exciting digital transformation story, which has so far been very successfully led by Eric Ledroux. With PAI MMF, we have the platform and the appropriate experience to help the company develop further both digitally and geographically.”

Fabien Bismuth, President at LFPI, added: “MyFlower’s progress in the last few years has been edifying and it is well on its way towards becoming a truly pan-European gift digital platform. With our support, the management team has been able to carry out a number of organic developments, to complete three acquisitions, including two abroad, and to expand into new territories. LFPI has developed a strong partnership with Eric Ledroux and his team and we hope to remain active participants going forward.”

Eric Bismuth, CEO of Montefiore Investment, commented: “We are proud of the MyFlower journey and its success is a perfect illustration of Montefiore Investment’s ability to support the innovation and digitalisation of its portfolio companies, as well as their growth and expansion in France and internationally.”

Eric Ledroux, CEO of MyFlower, said: “MyFlower’s online and European development in the last five years has been tremendous and we are thankful for LFPI and Montefiore Investment’s support during this time. Since the very first discussions we have found ourselves in perfect tune with PAI, which has the right experience to help us pursue our growth plans.”

Categories: News

Tags: eCommerce

Redefining e-commerce logistics

admin December 18, 2020

Berlin, 18 December 2020

GP Bullhound acted as financial adviser to the shareholders of R2G Polska, operating under the Apaczka brand (“Apaczka”), a leading automation-driven online shipment platform headquartered in Warsaw, Poland, on the sale of a majority stake to Poland-based private equity firm Abris Capital. Grzegorz Iwaniuk will continue in his role as CEO and will retain a minority stake in the business.

Since 2009, Apaczka has grown into the leading e-commerce logistics provider in Central and Eastern Europe focused on increasing efficiency throughout the value chain. Apaczka functions as a technology platform and an integrator, offering comprehensive shipment services for e-commerce stores, SMEs and SOHO (small office / home office) clients. It supports companies in the development of their business, providing professional tools to facilitate daily logistics, and over the past decade has made close to 30 million shipments for more than 160,000 customers.

Grzegorz Iwaniuk, co-founder and CEO of Apaczka, said: “In addition to continuing the current strategy of increasing our market share and strengthening our leadership position, we plan to drive the growth of the business further, with the support of Abris, through the development and implementation of new solutions for entities operating in the e-commerce industry. It was a pleasure working with GP Bullhound – their deep expertise in the software sector proved to be extremely valuable.”

Julian Riedlbauer, Partner at GP Bullhound, stated: “We are delighted to have helped Apaczka find the ideal partner for their next stage of growth. They are perfectly positioned to benefit from the ongoing growth of e-commerce spending globally, which has been further boosted in 2020 by the coronavirus pandemic.”

This represents GP Bullhound’s 21st transaction in the last 12 months, of which 14 were completed within the software space, including Bridgepoint’s $160m investment in Sendinblue, CVC’s $200m investment in EcoVadis, Wavecrest Growth Partners’ and Beringea’s $29m investment in EDITED, and the acquisition of Assetic by Dude Solutions, among many others.

Enquiries

For enquiries, please contact:

Julian Riedlbauer, Partner

julian.riedlbauer@gpbullhound.com Carolin Drewes, Associate

carolin.drewes@gpbullhound.com

About GP Bullhound

GP Bullhound is a leading technology advisory and investment firm, providing transaction advice and capital to the world’s best entrepreneurs and founders. Founded in 1999, the firm today has offices in London, San Francisco, Stockholm, Berlin, Manchester, Paris, Hong Kong, Madrid and New York. For more information, please visit www.gpbullhound.com

Categories: News

Tags: eCommerce Information technology

Nordstjernan divests its holding in Nordic Nest

admin December 14, 2020

Nordstjernan has signed an agreement to divest its holding in Nordic Nest, a leading Swedish e-commerce company that sells design and furnishings online to BHG Group.

Nordic Nest was founded in 2002, and Nordstjernan has been an owner since 2016 with 20 percent of the shares in the company. Nordic Nest has about 200 employees and conducts sales in countries such as the Nordic region, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and South Korea.

“Nordstjernan has been an owner of Nordic Nest alongside Nicklas Storåkers and Karl‑Johan Persson. During our period as owner, the company has grown strongly and maintained a healthy profitability. The company is now entering the next stage of expansion, and I would like to extend my deepest thanks to management and employees for their efforts. I am pleased that an experienced company like BHG will become a new owner of Nordic Nest,” says Peter Hofvenstam, CEO of Nordstjernan.

Peter Hofvenstam
President and CEO
Nordstjernan AB
Questions will be answered by:

Peter Hofvenstam, CEO, Nordstjernan
E-mail: peter.hofvenstam@nordstjernan.se

Stefan Stern, Head of Communications, Nordstjernan
Telephone: +46 70 636 74 17
E-mail: stefan.stern@nordstjernan.se
Nordstjernan is a family-controlled investment company whose business concept is to be an active owner that creates long-term value growth. More information about Nordstjernan can be found on www.nordstjernan.se.

Categories: News

Tags: eCommerce

Redefining experience-driven commerce

admin December 8, 2020

New-York, 8 December 2020

GP Bullhound acted as exclusive financial advisor to commerce and consumer experience agency FortyFour on its acquisition by Bounteous, a leading digital transformation agency.

Founded in 2012, with offices in Atlanta and Mexico City, FortyFour brings to Bounteous its expertise in enterprise platforms, digital strategy, branded content, and experience design. The addition of Coca-Cola, Fiserv, and Boehringer Ingelheim complements a roster of Bounteous blue chip accounts.

The merger of Bounteous and FortyFour creates the only Adobe partner in the world with full customer experience capabilities with specializations in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM), Magento Commerce, Adobe Analytics, and Adobe Campaign. Bounteous is backed by private equity firm Mountaingate Capital.

“We’ve spent the last decade designing and building scalable experience-driven commerce platforms that strengthen enterprises and engage consumers, and we’re excited to be joining Bounteous to continue to challenge the traditional agency model,” said Raghu Kakarala, former Managing Partner of FortyFour, who will join Bounteous as EVP, Commerce.

“GP Bullhound has been a great advisory partner for us, their sector expertise, extensive network and dedication have been key in achieving this successful transaction.”

Oliver Schweitzer, Executive Director, GP Bullhound, commented: “FortyFour has built a world-class commerce and customer experience agency, and we are excited for their partnership with Bounteous – creating an industry-leading digital transformation and brand experience agency with unique analytics and fully integrated Adobe platform expertise.”

This transaction is further testament to GP Bullhound’s expertise in digital services, with 20 deals completed in the last 24 months in the sector alone, having previously advised on the acquisition of Orca Pacific by MightyHive/S4 Capital, the acquisition of Jellyfish by Fimalac, the acquisition of GoKart Labs by West Monroe Partners, and the acquisition of Wongdoody by Infosys, among many others.

Inquiries

For inquiries, please contact:

Alec Dafferner, Partner

alec.dafferner@gpbullhound.com Oliver Schweitzer, Executive Director

oliver.schweitzer@gpbullhound.com

About GP Bullhound

Categories: News

Tags: eCommerce

Ardian Growth acquires a stake in Produceshop

admin June 8, 2020

Paris, June 8th, 2020 – Ardian, a world leading private investment house, announces the acquisition of a stake in ProduceShop, a Swiss e-commerce platform specialized in the production and sale of indoor and outdoor furniture in Europe.

Launched in 2015, ProduceShop has an innovative sales model that allows it to combine prestigious brands with its own brands through analytical tools that anticipate the demands of European customers. With this self-financed growth model, the e-commerce platform has managed to triple its turnover in less than three years by selling more than 50% in very competitive markets such as France, Germany and the UK.
The founders commented: “We have ambitious internationalization plans for ProduceShop. Our development model is unique from a technological point of view; we are a 3.0 e-commerce company. Ardian Growth is the ideal partner for this operation: their experience in e-commerce has made a difference.

Laurent Foata, head of Ardian Growth, added: “The talent and vision of the founders combined with a determined and competent team convinced us right away.”

In addition to providing support thanks to Ardian Growth’s network and know-how in helping growing companies, this partnership aims to accompany ProduceShop in its strategy of conquering and penetrating new international markets.”

Romain Chiudini, Director at Ardian Growth, concluded: “With ProduceShop, we have identified a radically innovative approach to online sales thanks to their data-driven strategy. This confirms our willingness to support the development of ProduceShop towards international and exponential growth, all alongside an extremely talented team.”

ABOUT PRODUCESHOP

ProduceShop is a dynamic and technological E-Commerce, specialized in the production and sale of indoor and outdoor furniture in Europe.
A careful selection of products is made to make it easier for the user to choose online. ProduceShop preselects the best products for value for money, making it easier for the customer to purchase furniture and garden items, accessories, lighting products, swimming pools, toys for children, items for bathing resorts, and much more. This variety of products, together with the attention to quality and design, has allowed our e-Shop to become a leader in the sector with thousands of daily shipments throughout Europe and thousands of customers served.

ProduceShop sells in many major important European countries:

https://www.produceshop.fr/
https://www.produceshop.de/
https://www.produceshop.it/
https://www.produceshop.es/
https://www.produceshop.ch/
https://www.produceshop.pt/
https://www.produceshop.be/
https://www.produceshop.nl/
https://www.produceshop.at/
https://www.produceshopdesign.com/

By the end of 2020, the company will also be in https://www.produceshop.se and in https://www.produceshop.fi

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$96bn 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 680 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 around 1,000 clients through five pillars of investment expertise: Fund of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.

www.ardian.com

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

Ardian Growth, Paris: Romain Chiudini, Bertrand Schapiro, Olivier Roy

M&A Advisor ProduceShop: Blue Circle Capital AG, Zug (Chiaretto Calò, Paolo Gramaglia)

Legal Advisor ProduceShop: Bernasconi, Martinelli, Alippi & Partners, Lugano (Fabio Alippi)

Legal Advisor Ardian: Giovannelli e Associati (Fabrizio Scaparro, Matteo Bruni, Paola Cairoli, Claudia Raimondi, Ferrante Fontana); Vischer (Gian Andrea Caprez, Christoph Niederer, Seraina Jenny-Tsering).

Financial Advisor Ardian: New Deal Advisors (Antonio Ficetti, Roxana Hanceanu)

Strategic Advisor Ardian: Digital Value (Arnaud de Baynast, Romain Bury)

PRESS CONTACTS

ARDIAN
Headland
VIKTOR TSVETANOV

Tel: +44 207 3435 7469
VTsvetanov@headlandconsultancy.co.uk

Categories: News

Tags: eCommerce

private-equitynews.com

Tag Archives: eCommerce

Mecenat to partner with IK Investment Partners

IK Investment Partners

Mecenat

Endeit Capital invests in German-based parcelLab

First investment in newly-minted Third Fund

Clearlake to make Strategic Investment in Web.com

Bolt Raises $75M, Reinforcing its Position as a Disruptive Online Checkout Platform

Media Contacts

Permira Funds to Acquire Majority Stake in Boats Group from Funds Advised by Apax Partners

PAI MMF enters into exclusive negotiations for the acquisition of a majority stake in MyFlower

PAI MMF enters into exclusive negotiations with LFPI and Montefiore Investment for the acquisition of a majority stake in MyFlower, the leading European flower and gift digital platform operating the Interflora brand in key European markets including France, Denmark, Iberia and Italy

Redefining e-commerce logistics

Berlin, 18 December 2020

About GP Bullhound

Nordstjernan divests its holding in Nordic Nest

Redefining experience-driven commerce

New-York, 8 December 2020

About GP Bullhound

Ardian Growth acquires a stake in Produceshop

ABOUT PRODUCESHOP

ABOUT ARDIAN

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

PRESS CONTACTS