Foxway has acquired the German recommerce specialist Flip4 GmbH (Flip4). The transaction is an important part in Foxway’s strategy to become the leading company in reuse, repair and sourcing of ICT-devices in Europe.
Foxway is one of the largest specialists in IT-lifecycle management in Northern-Europe. The group has a turnover of EUR300 million in 2020 and employs more than 700 employees. Flip4 is one of the leading Recommerce businesses in Germany with around 40 employees located close to Frankfurt. Foxway has grown with over 30 percent annually during the last years.
“Our ambition is to show that profitability and sustainability go hand-in-hand. We are enabling that by providing a unique business model and by changing people’s way of consuming IT devices. We are the leading recommerce company in the Nordic region, but in order to make a real impact we need to expand our focus to new markets. We start with Europe as the next step”, says Martin Backman, Chief Executive Officer of Foxway Group.
Foxway is now to enter the German market through the acquisition of FLIP4NEW. This is the next step in Foxway´s strategy after the acquisition in Spain in the autumn of 2020.
Foxway’s strategy in the recommerce segment is to further expand throughout Europe, and Germany is one of the largest markets in the region. Flip4 provides us with a successful platform and an experienced team to build a strong position in Germany, said Agnes Makk, CEO of Foxway Recommerce.
Foxway has developed a market leading offering for mobile network operators, electronic retailers and distributors to utilise the benefits of electronic device trade-in as a core service to their customers.
Flip4 has developed a strong recommerce market position in Germany. The company is sourcing a broad range of consumer electronics via its online presence www.flip4new.de as well as trade-in partnerships with leading electronic retailers in Germany and several other European countries. Hereby, Flip4 offers a state-of-the-art trade-in solution for retailers, mobile-phone operators and consumer electronic manufacturers to offer sustainable online and offline take-back solutions to their customers. In addition, Flip4 is also helping B2B customers to reduce business costs of their IT equipment. Flip4New is reselling devices to end consumers via www.flip4shop.de and other marketplaces.
“Flip4 is sourcing devices from consumers directly and also reselling them back to the consumers, whereas Foxway is mainly sourcing and selling to B2B customers. Therefore, we are strengthening our offering in the B2C channel. At the same time, we will secure a strong base to build the business in Germany”, says Urvo Männama, Business Development Director of Foxway.
In connection with the acquisition, MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group will be divesting its ownership in FLIP4NEW as planned. FLIP4NEW will become an integrated part of the fast-growing Recommerce division of Foxway. Lennart Kleuser and Michael Sauer, founders of Flip4, remain on board and will support the growth of Foxway together with Agnes Makk who became the third board member.
“Foxway is one of the fastest growing IT lifecycle companies in Europe. By joining Foxway we bring complimentary skills to the Foxway Group and at the same time will benefit tremenduously from their broad product and service offerings, thereby accelerating our joint growth ambition in Germany and beyond,” says Michael Sauer, Managing director of Flip4 .
The integration plan has already started. Financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed.
