Expandeco

Investment in Expandeco – a provider of services to support the growth of e-commerce companies abroad. With the capital raised from the investment campaign, Expandeco will buy a profitable logistics company to expand its service offering for e-commerce stores by providing international parcel shipping.

The investment protection provisions include a liquidity preference for preferential return of capital with a minimum return of 15% per annum (p.a.).

Expandeco via Crowdberry presents a very rare opportunity for private investors to participate in a growth investment in a target company to finance the purchase of another company.

Such transactions are normally only available to private equity funds.

Expandeco provides services for e-commerce companies to support their growth abroad. Specifically, i) customer support in local language, ii) translation and localisation, iii) returns management and iv) a range of other services (local virtual addresses and bank accounts, phone numbers etc.). Expandeco today serves 300 small and large e-commerce stores across Europe through its CRM platform, which has been developed and is continuously upgraded by its own IT development team. The company has very limited competition. The company had 2023 revenues of €2.7 million (+23% y-o-y) and EBITDA (adj.) of €0.5 million.

The founders Tomáš Vrtík and Miroslav Kráľ are experienced e-commerce professionals.

• Tomáš Vrtík – a visionary leader who has established himself as a significant personality in the Czech and Slovak e-commerce market. Under his leadership, Expandeco, since its founding in 2014, has steadily expanded and grown to 20+ countries.
• Miroslav Kral – his entrepreneurial journey began with the founding of several e-commerce businesses such as Tickpo.sk, which he successfully sold after a year of development, or the payment gateway BESTERON, the majority share of which was sold to a private investment fund.
• Expandeco will acquire an experienced and motivated team from the logistics industry when purchasing the logistics company. The CEO and management of the acquired company will remain active in the management of the company and will be adequately motivated through ESOPs (employee shares linked to KPIs).

Competitive risk, scalability and internationalization risk, and operational risk are classified as medium risks. The benefits of the acquisition for both parties are the strengthening of their market position, while Expandeco will also gain an important new source of potential clients served by the acquired logistics company. In addition, the companies have been working together for a long time and therefore we expect a high degree of synergy.

We assess technology and market risk as low. During the acquisition, special attention should be paid to the good integration of the IT systems of both companies, cybersecurity and the ability of Expandeco's platform to cover a growing number of clients.