At the beginning of July, we successfully completed our exit from FAVI, with a turnover of 750 mil. as one of the flagship companies in our portfolio in 2021 and with operations in 9 countries.

We entered FAVI just after its inception in 2016 and it was one of our first investments. From the beginning, we helped the founders Jan Sellers-Zajíc and Radomir Hejl to set up the management of the company, the strategy, the fine-tuning of the product, but most importantly, to add ambition and courage – a combination that, together with the speed of decision making and the ability to go quickly into detail, we consider our most significant added value.

In collaboration with the team (Jan Sellers-Zajíc and Radomír Hejl), we helped from the beginning to fine-tune the algorithms for product ranking, pricing strategy for partner e-shops, fine-tuning marketing channels and agreed on ambitious investments in brand marketing. As a result, FAVI quickly became the market’s number one preferred search engine for furniture and home accessories, with the broadest product offering in the category. Despite being a search engine, FAVI regularly ranked top among furniture retailers in brand awareness among its target audience.

With expansions, whose pace we have strongly supported, the team has replicated the approach from the Czech Republic. As a result, FAVI now operates successfully in all nine markets and the company has been profitable since 2018.

By the end of 2021, Jan, Radomir and Pale Fire Capital agreed that our mission and value add were over and the best thing for FAVI’s future was to find a strategic buyer and we guided the company through the entire sale process. We are delighted that the buyer is Emma Capital, which has synergistic businesses in its portfolio and has the ambition to support FAVI in further growth. The founders Jan Zajíc and Radomír Hejl, who have done a great job, also have the opportunity to grow with the company further in their current roles and continue to pursue their vision.

The sale is also a significant milestone for us. We have proven that we can find a great team and have great added value for them. We intend to use the capital raised to make further investments in technology companies. As part of our move into private equity last year, we are now looking for established companies that are hitting their growth limits and looking for a partner to grow further. Our approach and added value remain, and thanks to the PFC team, which has grown over the past year with new professionals, we now help to fill companies with the right people as well as financial and legal support.

We thank both Jan and Radomir for their cooperation and wish FAVI every success in their next phase. We look forward to the next success stories we will continue to help write.