Investors put money into Foxdeli three years ago. Now one of them has paid off the other and is taking control of further development. He's going to grow.

Martin Jareš's startup has not been heard of for a long time. In early 2020, investors put their first major investment into it to help it launch a platform that helps e-shops better communicate with customers while they wait for a package to be delivered. The Foxdeli founder says this was also due to the fact that the company has been working on developing the next generation of its app, which it now has ready and is preparing to enter new markets with it. He embarks on his next adventure with a varied line-up of investors. The startup was left by the investment fund Lighthouse Ventures, and the majority stake was taken over by colleagues from the Prime Fund. It was a transaction for tens of millions of crowns.

At the beginning of 2020 Foxdeli Announced, that it has raised over ten million crowns from investors. The investment was led by the Lighthouse Ventures fund and the Prime Fund was also part of the capital injection. Just the second named fund, behind Jan Svoboda and Dusan Moskaliev, became the majority shareholder a few weeks ago when it decided to buy back their existing stake from Lighthouse. Currently, Jan Svoboda himself holds 30 percent of the company, and another 28 percent through two vehicles of his Prime Fund. Founder Martin Jareš retained a share of 38 per cent and Matěj Vácha owns four per cent.

Why do such boxes occur? “Simply because we had the opportunity to buy back the stake from Lighthouse Ventures and thus become the principal and investor in the Foxdeli project. After all, this continues our strategy with the SICAV fund, which we established this spring and into which we will gradually incorporate our A-level projects with significant international reach.” explains Jan Svoboda for CzechCrunch. Within the SICAV Prime Fund, they want to specialize in investments in innovation and want to be either the sole or at least the main investor in similar projects.

Svoboda does not want to mention the exact amounts, but within the settlement with Lighthouse Ventures, it was supposed to be a transaction exceeding EUR 1 million, or roughly CZK 25 million. At the same time, according to him, Lighthouse Ventures was to invest, on which they earned more than 300 percent, as confirmed by the founder of this fund, Michal Zálešák. The Prime Fund has already invested tens of millions of crowns in Foxdeli and now wants to help the company grow further. As part of the strategy of the new fund of qualified investors, Svoboda and Co. want to provide development capital, as a rule, until the companies become attractive to foreign funds.

Meanwhile, according to Svoboda, Foxdeli's sales are in the order of millions of crowns, with more significant growth to come in the next few years. This year, the Czech startup completed a new version of its application, including a module for e-shop marketplaces, and strengthened its team, which currently numbers 30 people. Its platform offers technology for easier tracking of shipments from most carriers, provides post-purchase communication with the customer, and provides complete delivery data in real time. In the Czech Republic, it currently has dozens of clients, among which are e-shops such as Decathlon, Footshop, Alensa, Grizly and Lékárna.cz.

The key ingredient for further growth is to be overseas expansion for Foxdeli. This year it is preparing to enter Slovakia and Germany, and subsequently to other countries in Western Europe. The long-term goal is the United States. “Together with Prime Fund, we have a clear strategy. Maximum concentration on the market and customer, dynamic overseas expansion and emphasis on revenue. We have a lot of work to do, but we are already looking forward to introducing our platform to thousands of foreign clients and moving to the international level.” says Martin Jareš, CEO and founder of Foxdeli.

Michal Zálešák from Lighthouse Ventures also considers his investment a success. “We are constantly looking for projects with the potential for global growth. In the world of startups, of course, every project tries to do this, but not all succeed. However, this is not the case with Foxdeli, which we have endorsed. Today we can rate this investment as a success,” says.

His fund had an option at the end of last year to convert its original investment, which was led in the form of a loan. He could either take the loan back with interest, or get a 10 percent stake in the company. He was eventually bought back by Prime Fund, and its founder Jan Svoboda says that at the time Lighthouse was paid off, Foxdeli's valuation was at CZK 250 million.

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