Nine United, a privately held family of companies has acquired Peak Capital’s portfolio company Flinders, a premium furniture retailer in the Netherlands and Belgium. This acquisition marks the first exit for the Amsterdam-based VC firm Peak Capital in 2021.
The Dutch company sold 100 per cent of the Flinders shares from management and external investors RTL Ventures and Peak Capital.
Notably, the VC firm is known for its strong track record with over 20 investments including IENS (exit to Tripadvisor in 2015), Radionomy (exit to Vivendi in 2016), CheapCargo (exit to PostNL in 2017), and Catawiki.
Through this transaction, Flinders became part of Nine United Ecommerce, a company of Nine United A/S from Denmark. As per the company’s claims, the takeover was made based on positive advice from the works council.
According to Business.gov.nl, the works council is made up of employees, who get involved with decisions about the running of the company. It promotes and protects the interests of the employees in the company. As per the Dutch Works Councils Act, “Any entrepreneur carrying on an enterprise in which normally at least 50 persons are working shall, in the interests of the proper functioning of the enterprise with respect to all its objectives, establish a Works Council in order to ensure the proper consultation and representation of the persons working in the enterprise, and in order to be able to comply with any requirements of or pursuant to this Act that relate to the said Works Council.”
Oscar Diele appointed as CEO
The founder of Flinders, Geert-Jan Smits resigned his position to start an innovative and sustainable initiative within the furniture industry. Notably, COO Oscar Diele succeeds Geert-Jan Smits as CEO of Flinders.
“We believe Flinders is an excellent fit for the Nine United group,” saysOscar Diele. “We share the same values and beliefs that you can only achieve great results with people who are passionate about. Now that we are part of Nine United, we can continue our success in the Benelux.”
Nine United family
With 120 employees, the company also confirmed that it continues to operate as a local company and brand within the Nine United family. The Zaandam-based company has more than 36,000 furniture, design lamps, and home accessories in its range.
On the other side, Nine United Ecommerce is the e-commerce arm of Nine United A/S. It currently comprises three leading online furniture stores within the home & living segment: AmbienteDirect, Connox (both located in Germany), and Flinders.
Invested in Open Social and Stack
Amsterdam-based Peak Capital is a venture capital firm which provides smart capital and pro-active hands-on support to fast-growing highly-scalable marketplaces, SaaS or data startups. Established in 2007, Peak Capital manages 4 funds, with the first 3 funds being fully invested. Its co-founders are Heleen Dura – van Oord, Johan van Mil, Stefan Bary, and Hein Siemerink.
Peak Capital’s previous investments include successful exits such as IENS (acquired by Tripadvisor, NASDAQ: TRIP), Radionomy (acquired by Vivendi, EURONEXT: VIV), Cheapcargo (acquired by PostNL, AMS: PNL) and OneFit, which recently merged with German Urban Sports Club to become the largest sports and fitness platform in Europe.
Back in December 2020, the Dutch VC firm invested in Open Social, a community-building platform and marketplace, and Stack, a startup that aims to build the first tab-less browser or as they call it Operating System for the Internet.
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