This month’s newsletter highlights:
- finleap connect, the largest independent Open Banking platform in Europe, acquires MyValue Solutions
- AdaptiveMobile Security, leader in mobile network security, has been acquired by Enea, in €45m deal
- We welcome Singapore-based e-Commerce aggregator Una Brands to our portfolio
- Travel tour company, Exottica, closes $30m Series C round to capitalize on travel recovery
- Meet the Team conversation with Associate, Antony Baker, plus meet new hire, Ruchir Shah
finleap connect makes its first acquisition with Spanish Open Banking provider, MyValue Solutions
Claret portfolio company, finleap connect, the largest independent Open Banking platform in Europe, has acquired MyValue Solutions, the second largest Open Banking company in the Iberian market.
Frank Kebsch, CEO: “The acquisition of MyValue Solutions is an important step in our continued expansion across Europe. MyValue Solutions’ tech and talent has impressed us since the beginning, and we appreciate the opportunity to cooperate with the leading financial institutions in the Spanish & Portuguese market. Additionally, we welcome Claret Capital as our trusted partner in this journey, providing us with non-dilutive growth capital to further accelerate our strategic ambitions.”
Bryan McLoughlin, Vice President, Claret: “The opportunity for finleap connect is sizable and will only continue to grow as financial institutions further embed Open Banking solutions into their products and operations. Frank and the finleap connect team have a track record of delivering meaningful value for complex financial institutions with its Open Banking platform, and Claret Capital are delighted to support them on their journey ahead through our growth capital and Series A investments.”
AdaptiveMobile Security acquired by Enea in €45m deal
Mobile network security leader, AdaptiveMobile Security has been acquired by Swedish company Enea – a leading provider of cybersecurity and telecoms software – in a deal worth €45m.
Brian Collins, CEO: “AdaptiveMobile Security has a long established debt relationship with Claret as they are today and in previous guises. We found David Bateman and his team, extremely responsive, client focused and solution driven – and we are extremely grateful to them for their support over the past years.”
David Bateman, Claret: “Huge congratulations to the team. We’ve been supporting AdaptiveMobile since 2018 and its wonderful to see that they are still at the forefront of delivering threat protection for global mobile networks.”
The debt will be used to acquire 3rd party sellers (3PS) across these platforms and scale them across the Asia-Pacific region and will further help Una Brands accelerate its overall growth.
Kiren Tanna, CEO: “Una Brands’ mission is to enable exceptional e-commerce entreprenuers realize the full potential of their online brands while providing them a path to an exit. We are excited to partner with Claret Capital Partners to bring this mission to life with access to the capital needed to acquire and invest to grow these brands. Their experience and successful track record of backing players like us in Europe strenthens our position as the leading e-commerce acquirer in APAC.”
Hemal Rawal, Principal, Claret: “The growth of 3PS aggregators across the world has been rapid and this is no different for the Asia-Pacific region where the consumer market is approximately 10x the size of that in Europe. We are delighted to join Kiren, his management team and the excellent investors who have been part of successful strategies like this in Europe, build the leading aggregator business in this region and truly scale.”
Tour Operator Exottica closes $30m Series C Round
Claret Capital Partners portfolio company Exoticca – a Barcelona-based multi-day package tour operator has closed a Series C funding round at $30 million.
The firm intends to use the funding to accelerate growth and is banking on strong consumer desire to once again set off as borders begin to reopen. To date, the company has raised a total of $53 million.
Pere Vallès, CEO: “Travel is back and we believe that this is the right time to invest in order to build a category leader in the multi-day package tour space.”
Antony is an Associate at Claret and has been a part of the team for over 4 years, and whilst he sits in the investment team and has completed multiple deals, he has also been involved in various activities across the business, from fundraising to portfolio management.
You’ve been with Claret for 4 years – what’s been the most rewarding ‘accomplishment’ thus far?
There’s been lots of things over the last 4 years that have been rewarding, but one thing that stands out recently has been the opportunity to work on fundraising for Fund III. It’s great to take a step back and see how I’ve been truly involved ‘end-to-end’; not only in the traditional sense of deal origination through to due diligence and portfolio management, but also helping to raise the capital from our LPs that we’ve then physically deployed into those portfolio companies. It’s been interesting to be on the other end of the due diligence!
What’s one trend that excites you at the moment?
The level of VC funding in the first half of 2021 has been incredible and Europe has been the fasting growing region globally. I read a report recently that VC funding for European start-ups was nearly €50bn in the first half of the year and up almost 3x on H120 – this is great for us and the growth debt market in general as it swells the addressable universe for our capital.
Read the full interview on our blog.
- Catch Johan Kampe and David Bateman’s recent interview with TritonLake, as they share where the opportunities are in growth debt today.
- We are delighted to formally introduce Ruchir Shah, who joins Claret to support the team across the investment process. Prior to Claret, Ruchir spent over three years at KPMG in the deal advisory division in London, focusing on banking, insurance broking and fintech.
- Missed our June newsletter? Wefox raised $650m Series C at $3b valuation and more.