Excitor

Jan 2, 2019

Verdane Capital VII purchases Nordic Venture Partners Danish Funds 4 Feb, 2013 With Verdane Capital VII’s acquisition of the existing funds in Danish Nordic Venture Partners I, Verdane Capital Advisors, one of the Nordic markets’ largest and most successful investment advisors to secondary direct funds, is taking a first step on to the Danish market as part of its Nordic expansion strategy. Verdane Capital Advisors, the Nordic region’s largest specialist in advising secondary direct funds and the exclusive investment advisor to Verdane Capital VII (Verdane), today announced the purchase by Verdane of 100% of the Danish fund Nordic Venture Partners I. The Nordic Venture Partners fund portfolio consists of four direct assets; CRF Health, Saxotech, Octoshape and Excitor, with the most significant of the four being CRF Health and Saxotech. CRF Health is a service provider to the life science industry, focused on providing technology for patient reporting in clinical trials (for example via smartphones and tablets). The company was founded in Helsinki in 2000 and it is now one of the top three players in the world in its field. Saxotech provides content production and distribution solutions for the newspaper industry. The company was founded in Aalborg, Denmark in 1993 and has successfully expanded into North America from its base in Northern Europe. Octoshape and Excitor are both headquartered in Denmark. Octoshape’s core business is video streaming services and Excitor’s main activities are mobile device management, mobile email and ‘business mobilisation’ solutions. “We are very excited about Verdane funds’ first investment in Denmark; we have been looking for suitable acquisitions in Denmark for a while and are very pleased with the opportunity and the interesting companies acquired today” says Verdane Capital Advisors’ Managing Partner Lars B. Thoresen.”Verdane’s goal is to always deliver more than capital. The funds have a track record of doing this in 18 transactions to date, with the investment in Nordic Venture Partners being the 19th in the Nordic Region. As part of the acquisition, we have worked in close cooperation with the management of Nordic Venture Partner I funds to ensure the continued development and success of the Danish portfolio.” The fund Nordic Venture Partners I was backed by nine different investors including significant Danish investors such as ATP, PensionDanmark, Danske Bank and Sampension. “Although Verdane Capital Advisors has a sizeable team, we are still small enough to work as a single team and deploy the best resources to meet each challenge together with company management” says Verdane Capital Advisors’ Partner Pål Malmros. “Verdane is always represented on the board of the funds’ key portfolio companies to make sure the appropriate strategy is implemented for each company for its continued growth and success.” Nordic Venture Partners I consists of two different vehicles (Nordic Venture Partners K/S and Nordic Venture Partners Seed K/S), and was established in 2000 as a Dkr 1.5bn expansion capital and early stage fund. Verdane Capital Advisors has followed Nordic Venture Partners for a number of years and in December 2012 Verdane offered the Limited Partners of Nordic Venture Partners I, the option of selling their interests to Verdane or continuing their investments in the fund. Continuing the work with the original investors in an investment partnership marks one of the differentiating factors that have set Verdane funds apart and have marked one of the parameters of the funds’ success in the Nordic market. For more information, please contact: Lars B. Thoresen, lars.thoresen @ verdanecapital.com or +47 24 13 70 22 Pål Malmros, pal.malmros @ verdanecapital.com or +47 702 68 65 16  Frida Einarson, frida.einarson @ verdanecapital.com or +46 702 44 20 83   About Verdane Capital Advisors Verdane Capital Advisors has 25 years experience in the venture capital and private equity market. The company acts as a liquidity provider for owners of unlisted assets, primary by acquiring portfolios of unlisted companies, but Verdane Capital funds also selectively invest directly in medium-sized individual companies. Active funds stand at €500m, with a total of approximately 100 holdings in four different funds. Verdane Capital Advisors has 21 professionals in offices in Helsinki, Oslo and Stockholm. Example investments include: BytHjul, Codenomicon, Liaison Technologies, Mathem, Resman, SmartMotor, Vector, Wireless Maingate and Åkerströms. Examples of earlier investments are Coding Technologies, Chipcon, DIBS, Nacre, Opera Software, Reslink and TradeDoubler. www.verdanecapital.com Holdings Verdane funds invest in companies with a strong growth potential, mainly within consumer internet, software, energy and advanced industrial sectors. The funds have invested in over 300 companies since 2003.