The opportunity to invest in a strong e-commerce brand with a sustainable footprint while standing alongside renowned investor names like Thomas Archer Bata, the great-grandson of Tomáš Baťa. This is the true Bata-ness opportunity brought by the Crowdberry platform. Freshlabels, a retailer of designer and sustainable fashion, wants to raise a target of 800,000 EUR through the platform. The investment will be used to increase inventory and expand, leading to increased sales and overall company growth. The interest income from the campaign will return an appreciation of 11.2 % p. a. on the first tranche with semi-annual payments. Crowdberry intends to replicate the success of the Slovak Pohoda Festival campaign, which raised 500,000 EUR from investors, and support the growth of Czech lovebrand Freshlabels. Investors showed great interest in a few days and invested more than 200-thousand EUR.
„Through local capital financing, we have the opportunity to keep the value created on home turf and support the growth of established local brands. After equity financing, which our investors as co-owners of companies and real estate have known for many years, we have now launched private credit (dept) financing in the Czech Republic. In this case, the companies pay the investors cash in semi-annual payments as interest income," explains Dano Gašpar, managing partner of Crowdberry. "The specificity is that we focus on established companies, so investors can finance similarly to banks. The principle is that investors get adequate remuneration for the risk they take, proven security and complete information so that they know what the company will use their funds for, how and with what purpose, and most importantly how the company plans to repay the investors," adds Gašpar.
Crowdberry enables direct financing of Czech and Slovak companies through its platform. These companies are selected by a professional team of investment managers and are also approved by an investment committee composed of a council of financing and investment experts. Since its inception, the platform has financed dozens of companies with a total amount exceeding 65 million EUR in private capital, with additional tens of millions obtained through subsidiary funds. Portfolio companies report total revenues exceeding 400 million EUR.
The campaign, which aims to raise 800,000 EUR, will be launched by Crowberry on 28 June. Private investors can become bankers for Freshlabels and lend it capital at a defined interest rate. Freshlabels has the opportunity to support with an investment of 3,000 EUR or more. The interest yield of the first tranche is 11.2 % p. a. paid semi-annually. The maturity of the loan is three years. The investment is secured and guaranteed by the owners, including the Tomas Bata Family Fund.
"Freshlabels has weathered a turbulent period and is transforming into the new Freshlabels 2.0. We will still retain what makes us strongest, which is our mission to discover and curate new and exciting brands from around the world. But now with improved processes and a very professional team focused on operational efficiency. This will allow us to respond flexibly to the increasingly vibrant macroeconomic changes of today. The company has huge growth potential in our eyes as it is the gateway to many global and largely sustainable brands. We intend to invest the amount raised in the development of the company, its operations, replenishment of inventories and, above all, in preparation for the expansion into the foreign market planned for next year," comments Ladislav Žižka, CEO of Freshlabels, which has repeatedly achieved sales of around 100 million CZK in recent years. In the coming year, it intends to increase this to 120 million CZK, the amount the company was achieving before the pandemic.
Ladislav Žižka joined Freshlabels in 2022. The owners, led by the Bata family investment fund, entrusted him with the leadership to restructure and transform the company, while restoring the reputation of this successful lovebrand.
Crowdberry was awarded an ECSPR licence in 2023, which not only made investing more accessible, but also allowed it to launch a new credit finance product. This new product synergistically complements equity investments, which have long been a core area of Crowdberry, and is in demand not only from investors but also from companies seeking capital to grow their business.
