One Croatian startup has attracted interest of major investors.
After several years of waiting, a Croatian startup is just one step away from making it big on the global stage. Bouxtie, according to its founder and director Renato Librić, currently has two takeover bids and one proposal for a strategic partnership, reports Poslovni.hr on November 24, 2016.
The first offer for the acquisition is worth 90 million dollars, the second is worth 120 million dollars, while the third offer, the one for strategic partnership, is to join forces and turn Bouxtie in the next two years into a company worth between 300 to 500 million dollars. “We are now working to realize this partnership and achieve all the key milestones”, said Librić.
The greatest success among Croatian startups so far has been achieved by Iskon, founded and led by Damir Sabol, which was bought in 2006 by Croatian Telecom for 100 million kuna. In the meanwhile, the number of other Croatian startups have also been able to attract substantial investments. The recorder is Mate Rimac with his Rimac Automobili company, who has collected more than 10 million dollars of capital. However, there has been no Croatian startup which was sold for even close to the amount achieved by Iskon. There is a possibility that Matija Kopić with his Farmeron succeeded in breaking the record, but the price for which he sold his company to Virtus Nutrition has not been disclosed.
Bouxtie is a company which specialized in the sale and exchange of personalized gift card via mobile phones. Librić said that this global market is worth 400 billion dollars, and his company is among market leaders in the United States and Canada. His clients are Amazon, Gamestop, Best Buy, REI, and Macy’s, among many others.
Edi Budimilić, a technical advisor at Bouxtie, said that the regulations in this area are very strict and therefore the majority of competitors focus on just one market. “We aim to become a global player, but that is impossible to achieve if you do not create a name for yourselves in the United States”, said Budimilić.
Bouxtie has managed to gather a number of prominent investors. For example, the president of Bouxtie is Jay O’Connor, a partner at Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital and former vice president of NetSuite. “A turning point was when Sir Richard Branson, who invested in my idea, told me I was too small for Europe and that the real money can be found in San Francisco”, said Librić.
Bouxtie has teams in Rijeka, Zagreb, Luxembourg and San Francisco, where its headquarters is located.
