“Verdane and I share the same investment philosophy, and have worked together in building several successful businesses over the years. Verdane stands out as the most attractive player in this market, and for me, after working together with the team for almost 10 years, joining them is the natural next step,” says Jakob Tolleryd.
Together, Tolleryd and Verdane have a long-standing and successful history of building fast-growing companies. In 2005, Tolleryd founded consumer finance comparison company, Compricer, which became part of Verdane Capital VII K/S’ (Verdane) portfolio in 2011, and was sold to Schibsted Media Group in 2013. The list of companies where Verdane and Tolleryd has joined forces also include companies such as MatHem, EasyArt and Desenio.
Tolleryd started his entrepreneurial career in 1996, and has since built an impressive track record founding companies such as Domain Network, Carambole, and Klikki, as well as Compricer and EasyArt. As part of the Verdane team, Tolleryd will contribute with his strong entrepreneurial background and experience from building fast-growing and profitable businesses.
“Verdane has a leading position within e-commerce and technology in the Nordics, having invested in companies such as newly listed Boozt, MatHem, Desenio, BabyShop and Outnorth. Among entrepreneurs, Verdane is considered a power house in this space, with its extensive network, in-depth expertise and experience in building tailored solutions to grow this type of businesses,” he says.
Over the past years, Verdane funds have invested in 158 companies within software and e-commerce, and have realised 96 companies. The current portfolio is on average growing with over 20% per year. According to Verdane’s managing partner Bjarne Lie, the addition of Jakob Tolleryd will position the company well to successfully source and execute more investments in this area.
“Digital transformation has been the main driver of the e-commerce boost over the past decade. Now, other and more mature industries will have to digitalise businesses and go-to-market models, creating opportunities for players with a tailored digital methodology and solutions. By welcoming Jakob Tolleryd to the team, Verdane confirms its leading position within this field of expertise,” he says.
For further information, please contact:
Bjarne Lie, bjarne.lie@verdanecapital.com or +47 918 15 508
About Verdane Capital Advisors and Verdane funds
Verdane funds provide flexible growth capital to fast growing software, consumer internet, energy or high-technology industry businesses. The funds are distinctive in that they can invest either in a single company, or in portfolios of companies. Verdane funds have €900m under management and have invested in over 300 holdings over the past 14 years. Verdane Capital Advisors has 28 employees working out of offices in Oslo, Stockholm, and Helsinki. More information can be found at: www.verdanecapital.com
Nordic Capital Fund VIII (“Nordic Capital”)1 has entered into a call option agreement with the investment company R12 Kapital (“R12”) which entitles Nordic Capital to acquire an additional 2.94% of the shares in Nordax Group AB (publ) (“Nordax”), subject to receiving approval by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (“SFSA”). Nordic Capital is currently the largest shareholder in Nordax with a shareholding of 9.96%. The call option agreement entered into with R12, together with the already existing call option arrangement in place with Carnegie, entitle Nordic Capital to acquire a further total of 12.44% of the shares in Nordax.
