Breaking Down Private Equity funding: why did Weekend choose BaltCap?
Raising capital is a growing challenge for founders and managers/CEOs, who spend much of their time searching for additional funding and growth opportunities. This is where private equity (PE) could come into play: PE funds are constantly looking for investment opportunities in companies with the potential to grow and the ambition to expand their business.
What role PE investors play and how they back businesses is best explained by BaltCap’s portfolio companies themselves. This time, we chatted with Taavi Laeks, the founder and CEO of Weekend—the leading omnichannel footwear and apparel business in the Baltics. Taavi shared his thoughts on why to choose private equity fundraising, its most significant advantages, and how to prepare for financing.
1. Why did you go for private equity (PE) funding?
We decided to cut a deal with BaltCap to accelerate the business growth of Weekend. We were looking for more than just growth capital with an ambition to expand to foreign markets.
Based on our experience with BaltCap’s growth strategy, PE’s main advantage is the flexibility of equity capital and sharing risks with the PE partner.
Another strength is that being in the BaltCap portfolio boosts the company’s credibility among many relevant stakeholders—not only among the business partners but also among employees, clients, and suppliers.
As a third strength, I highlight the opportunity to access BaltCap’s vast network of contacts, its know-how in supporting companies at various stages of their life cycle and its tremendous pool of experience is attractive and opens new opportunities.
Based on our experience with BaltCap’s growth strategy, PE’s main advantage is the flexibility of equity capital and sharing risks with the PE partner.
2. Is it easy to get PE funding? How should a company prepare itself for PE financing?
There is one keyword to get PE funding: transparency. The company needs to be transparent—company financials and general management should be solid and running, well documented and disclosed in a good manner. Also, understanding how your business relates to global and local sustainability challenges does not hurt.
Of course, an ambitious vision and growth plan are a prerequisite. To engage growth capital—the first steps have been taken to showcase that the vision is realistic and that you can execute your plan.
3. Why BaltCap?
BaltCap is a trustworthy and experienced partner. BaltCap’s portfolio includes numerous companies, providing an excellent opportunity for networking, knowledge sharing and cooperation. Very often, small and medium-sized companies in the Baltics face similar bottlenecks when trying to expand their business; hence sharing experiences is very valuable. When we started to partner with BaltCap, it already had years of experience as a growth investor in successful pan-Baltic speciality retail verticals such as Tradehouse, Verkter, and LIVIN.
BaltCap investment team is professional; they are nice people to work with. For me, fundamental is the fact that they trust the company founders and management. They don’t intervene in daily management but exercise their role through the company board at a strategic level.