Verdane has sold half of its majority investment in Desenio, a global wall art online retailer, through a private placement followed by a listing of the company’s shares on the NASDAQ First North Growth Market, valuing the company at SEK11 billion.
Verdane will retain half of its shareholding in Desenio, which amounted to 60 percent prior to the private placement, and remain the company’s largest shareholder.
Verdane is a growth equity investment firm and one of Europe’s most active specialist e-commerce investors. The firm first partnered with Desenio in 2016 via Verdane Capital IX, a SEK3.1bn 2016-vintage fund, to support the Stockholm-based company’s expansion through a combination of organic and acquisitive growth.
“As a leading online provider of wall art across the globe, Desenio’s success is helping make great design available in the way that Nordic forebears like IKEA and H&M did for their respective markets,” said Henrik Aspén, partner at Verdane.
During Verdane’s holding period, Desenio reached an organic net sales CAGR of 76 per cent between 2016 and 2020, increasing net sales from SEK100m at the time of Verdane’s investment to 2020 pro forma net sales of SEK1.3bn when including the acquisition of Poster Store, an international online retailer of design posters.
Market coverage has increased from eight local web shops at the outset to shipping to more than 35 countries. “From only being present in the Nordics some five years ago, we have successfully scaled our strong value proposition and direct-to-consumer business model throughout Europe and beyond, explained Fredrik Palm, CEO of Desenio. “Despite our strong profitable growth to date, we are still only scratching the surface,” he commented on the future of the brand.
Verdane’s e-commerce portfolio also include asgoodasnew, Bildeler.no, CAIA Cosmetics, Farmasiet, Hylte Jakt & Lantman, MatHem, momox, Pet Media Group, and Once Upon.
