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November 09, 2007
Mangrove and bmp Back Polish Site For Women
bmp Media Investors and Mangrove have invested an undisclosed amount in Republika Kobiet, the company behind a 'web 2.0 lifestyle portal' targeted at women and based in Poland. (We think that the site name means Women's Republic)
Two of the founders hail from print media and one from the financial portal category. The founders are Jan Dybczyński who was co-founder/CEO of Hachette Filipacchi Polska, owning the Elle and Marie Clare titles in Poland, and Katarzyna Montgomery, the former editor-in-chief of Viva! - a celebrity/people title.
The third founder is Piotr Wąsowski who was CEO of Bankier.pl, a now publicly traded Polish financial site.
[News tip from]
View Republika Kobiet
bmp AG: bmp and Mangrove to invest in "Repulic of Women"
Berlin, November 9th 2007
The agreement signed on November 8th provides Republika Kobiet Sp. z o.o. with backing of two international venture capital funds: bmp Media Investors, an affiliate of bmp AG and Mangrove II Investment managed by Mangrove Capital Partners.
The funds took in equal proportion a total of 35% of shares of Republika Kobiet.pl, whose aim is to build a web 2.0 lifestyle portal targeted at women. The Founders of the company are Jan Dybczyński – co-founder and many years’ CEO of Polish branch of world’s biggest publisher of women’s glossy magazines, Hachette Filipacchi Polska – publisher of, among others, Elle and Marie Clare, Katarzyna Montgomery – former editor-in-chief of fortnightly Viva! - a leader on the people magazines market and Piotr Wąsowski – co-creator of success of stock exchange company Bankier.pl – a leader among internet financial portals, where he was a vice-president and later CEO during 2003-2006.
"Soon we intend to launch Republika Kobiet.pl, an internet portal which thanks to making use of the advantages that internet has over the traditional media, will be an interactive and community-building equivalent of women magazines. Thanks to the combination of founders experience gained on both press an internet markets and using the support provided by bmp AG and Mangrove Capital Partners we would like to offer Polish women a place in the internet, a Republic, where they could build up their world and find information about the topics which interest them the most", says Katarzyna Montgomery – editor-in-chief and vice-president of Rpebublika Kobiet.
bmp AG has been investing in Poland since 1999. It is dually listed on both Polish and German stock exchange since 2004. bmp’s most important investments in Poland were Internet Data Systems – internet service provider for the public sector, Bankier.pl – a leader on the market of financial portals in Poland and, currently in the portfolio, K2 Internet – a leader of e-marketing in Poland, soon to be floated on the stock exchange and Nokaut.pl – prominent price comparison shopping engine in Polish internet.
Investment in Republika Kobiet.pl is the first one to be done in Poland by a fund managed by Mangrove Capital Partners. The Mangrove funds invest all over the world in technology companies, mostly in such sectors as communication, infrastructure, media or wireless technologies. Mangrove Capital Partners is best know for the fact of being the first institutional investor of Skype, contributing substantially to Skype’s taking the lead on internet communicators market.
"We took the decision to invest in Republika Kobiet because we strongly believe in good prospects ahead of dedicated portals with clearly defined, better-than-average target groups. An important factor was the vast experience that the founders have in the women media and internet industry", says Krzysztof Nowiński, member of the board of bmp Polska who was responsible for executing the transaction and will be the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Republika Kobiet.pl.
"We are happy about the 11th bmp’s investment in Poland. I’m confident that the aim of the Company to become number 1 on the market by 2009 is realistic, despite the competition from growing online activities of the publishing houses in Poland and other existing online initiatives", says Jens Spyrka, CEO of bmp Media Investors, which is the lead-investor in Republika Kobiet.
"Investment in Republika Kobiet is our first Polish investment and a second one in Central-Eastern Europe, after Quintura.com – a Russian internet search engine operator. It is part of our strategy to search for and invest in companies in early stages of their development which have the talent and potential to become global players. We will actively support the development of Republika Kobiet using our experience in managing technology and media companies", adds Hugo Mahieu, principal at Mangrove Capital Partners.
As a step in launching the portal, Republika Kobiet, together with TV4 has launched a webpage of a women-dedicated programme Mała Czarna, broadcast daily by TV4. Under www.malaczarna.republikakobiet.pl the internet users can share their opinions on the issues touched on in the programme which is hosted by Katarzyna Montgomery – editor-in-chief of Republika Kobiet.pl.
About bmp:
As an internationally operating private equity asset manager, bmp invests own resources directly into company participations and, at the same time, is engaged as a funds manager for funds of funds and as a private equity advisor. To its shareholdings, bmp supplies not only capital, but also 10 years of comprehensive know-how as a business developer. With the experience from more than 80 own shareholdings, 13 initial public offers, as well as more than 25 trade sales from the portfolio, bmp is among the most competent venture capital companies in Germany and Poland. The bmp Media Investors is a thematically specialised venture capital company under management of bmp, entering into shareholdings exclusively in the area of media, entertainment, and marketing services in Germany and Poland. Beside Republika Kobiet, the present portfolio of bmp Media Investors comprises nugg.ad AG in Berlin, Brand New World GmbH in Munich, gamigo AG in Rheine, Nokaut Sp.z.o.o. in Gynia, Shotgun Pictures GmbH in Stuttgart and Greenhanger GmbH in Berlin.
About Mangrove Capital Partners:
Mangrove Capital Partners "Mangrove" provides venture capital to entrepreneurs looking to build world class companies. Its mission is to help turn visions into realities by providing financing, thoughtful advice, relevant experience and deep industry relationships to our portfolio companies. Mangrove has invested in, among others, the following companies: Skype (www.skype.com), Lumension (www.lumension.com), Dialcom Networks (www.dialcom.com), Nimbuzz ( www.nimbuzz.com), Properazzi (www.properazzi.com), Seatwave (www.seatwave.com), Quintura ( www.quintura.com ) and Piczo (www.piczo.com).
For further information:
bmp AG
Corinna Riewe
Investor Relations
Schlüterstraße 38
10629 Berlin
Tel: +49 30 20 30 5-567
Fax: +49 30 20 30 5- 555
E-mail: criewe@bmp.com
Internet: www.bmp.com
This issue of Corporate News represents neither an offering nor a request for the tendering of bids for the purchase of securities – particularly not in the US and not in any countries or jurisdictions in which offers, requests for the tendering of bids for purchases or for sales would not be permitted without previous registration or approval in accordance with the stipulations of the respectively applicable securities regulations.
This issue of Corporate News represents neither an offer for the sale of individual proprietary shares nor a request for the submission of an offer for the purchase of individual shares; it is intended solely for information purposes.
Posted on November 9, 2007 12:17 PM | Posted to News And Updates | Permalink
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