In a recent development, Hamburg-based social intranet app COYO has secured a mezzanine loan from Amsterdam-based Pride Capital Partners to finance its national and international growth strategy. Pride Capital Partners was previously known as Main Mezzanine Capital, and back then it provided a loan to leading Dutch online travel company Travelbird —  which got acquired by UK’s Secret Escape recently.
This is the first loan offered by Pride Capital Partners since it became an independent mezzanine provider. According to the company, the mezzanine loan will be used to finance COYO’s expansion strategy. Initially, the focus is on supporting the continuous development of the platform and strengthening the sales channel for large and extra-large clients. However, the loan amount is not disclosed.
What is a Mezzanine loan?
According to Internet definition, ‘A mezzanine loan is a financing option that combines the elements of both debt and equity financing. It is considered as high-risk debt, but also offers high returns for the lender. In more simple terms, the mezzanine loan is a type of funding that can be transformed into an ownership/equity if the borrower fails to pay.
In case of Pride Capital Partners, it provides loans from € 2M and the focus is on SME companies with at least €3M in revenues, more than 20 employees and a strong track record with profitable growth.
COYO – serves as a digital home!
For the starters, COYO offers an in-house developed social collaboration and intranet platform that serves as a digital home for many medium to large companies in Europe. Furthermore, the platform is sold in a SaaS and private cloud model resulting in a scalable and recurring business.
Enables companies to heighten their reach!
At present, the company employs around 100 people. With this platform, it enables companies to increase their reach amongst their staff and substantially promote content creation and collaboration within the staff.
Additionally, It helps employees to better identify themselves with their employer and the company culture as they are more democratically involved in decision-making processes and generally better informed about recent developments within the company.
Notably, COYO has customers currently between 75.000 and 300.000 users active on the platform. Currently, only 30% of European enterprises use some sort of social collaboration platform.
Pride Capital Partners
Pride Capital Partners provides mezzanine loans to profitable and growing companies in the software and ICT market in the Benelux and DACH region. Currently, Pride Capital Partners is in the process of raising a Mezzanine fund with European Investment Fund amongst its institutional investor base.
Jan Marius Marquardt (Founder & CEO of COYO):
We’re very happy that our profitable and fast growth allowed us to attract a mezzanine loan from Pride Capital Partners. After becoming the leading German social and mobile intranet vendor with over 700.000 users and without external financing, the loan will now allow us to reach our international growth goals while maintaining the existing shareholder structure.
Lars van ‘t Hoenderdaal (Managing Partner of Pride Capital Partners):
COYO’s strong technology, scalable and recurring business model, combined with a very dedicated management team convinced us to provide the means for their growth strategy. The mezzanine loan is a perfect fit for COYO’s growth ambitions, allowing management and shareholders to secure their future without major changes in their legal and operational setting.
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