Cafeyn, the leading digital media streaming platform, announces a growth investment from Bregal Milestone to accelerate its international expansion

November 26, 2020
  • With over 2 million active users, Cafeyn is the leading European digital media streaming platform
  • Cafeyn has a catalogue of over 2,500 newspapers and magazines and offers the best reading experience in the market
  • Drawing on the experience of its management team, its network of 500+ publishers and distribution partners, and Bregal Milestone’s support, Cafeyn intends to strengthen its international leadership position in the fast-growing information streaming vertical
  • The investment is the seventh transaction out of Bregal Milestone’s €495 million fund and marks the first transaction in France

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Cafeyn announces it has secured funding from Bregal Milestone, a European growth capital fund. The funding will support Cafeyn’s mission to create the best information streaming product and will bring additional resources to accelerate its international expansion and external growth strategy.

The company, which was founded by Ari Assuied, continues to grow 40% year-on-year and has expanded its team significantly from 50 in 2018 to an overall headcount of 170 by the end of the year, including the recent acquisitions of miLibris and Blendle. The investment will drive forward product innovation and enable the company to pursue its growth strategy in Europe and globally.

The investment comes at an exciting time for Cafeyn since it has seen an unprecedented rise in usage over the last 12 months, with a reach now exceeding 2 million users. The global press and magazines industry is worth around £110bn and experienced a huge growth in digital adoption as a result of a structural change in media consumption habits, which has been accelerated by the current pandemic.

Earlier this year, Cafeyn announced a strategic partnership with SFR and the introduction of a number of leading UK newspapers to the platform, adding The Independent, The Guardian, The Observer and The Evening Standard. It acquired miLibris, a SaaS platform enabling its publisher partners such as Les Echos, L’Equipe, Daily News and Grupo Godo, to digitalise, enrich, distribute and monetise their content. The Group also made the acquisition of Blendle, the largest digital news platform in the Netherlands, adding leading Dutch and European newspapers such as De Volkskrant, HP De Tijd or Der Spiegel and establishing Cafeyn as the European leader in its market.

In connection with this investment which marks Bregal Milestone’s first transaction in France and the seventh out of its €495 million fund, Philippe Lautenberg, Managing Partner, and Rob Hetherington, Head of Milestone Performance Partners, the firm’s in-house value creation team, will join the Cafeyn Board of Directors.

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Ari Assuied, CEO and Founder of Cafeyn:

“I am delighted by this collaboration that will drive further growth and internationalisation for Cafeyn. Bregal Milestone is a perfect fit for Cafeyn given their digital and media expertise, as well as their willingness to support fast-growing companies as a hands-on partner. Their global network and strategic support will allow us to accelerate our international expansion, by way of both organic growth and additional bolt-on acquisitions.”

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Philippe Lautenberg, Managing Partner at Bregal Milestone:

“We are highly enthusiastic to partner with Cafeyn for this next phase of growth. With a catalogue of over 2,500 newspapers and magazines, Cafeyn offers the best product and reading experience in the market and boasts very deep relationships with distribution partners and publishers. We look forward to working with Ari and his talented team to further develop the company and technology platform both in Europe and internationally.”

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About Cafeyn

Since its creation in 2006, Cafeyn’s ambition, driven by a deep passion for the media, has been to reconnect readers to the content that is relevant to them through an ultra high-performance platform. Under Ari Assuied’s leadership, Cafeyn has assembled an international management team combining talent in publishing, digital media, e-commerce, data and technology. Drawing on its accumulated expertise and a network of 500+ publishers and strategic distribution partners (telecom operators, pay-TV, e-commerce platforms, etc.), the platform today offers more than 2,500 titles accessible on all digital devices. Cafeyn is available in France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and French-speaking African countries, and aims to accelerate its international expansion. Since its inception 14 years ago, Cafeyn has continued to rapidly innovate the way it promotes information streaming at a time when the industry is reinventing itself and the way the general public consumes information is changing.

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About Bregal Milestone

Bregal Milestone is a growth capital firm managing a €495 million pan-European fund dedicated to making investments in high-growth European companies. The firm provides flexible capital solutions and strategic assistance to support market-leading companies across a wide variety of transaction situations. Targeted sectors include technology, technology-enabled consumer and business services, and healthcare. Bregal Milestone is part of Bregal Investments, which is an operating company of COFRA, with over €15 billion invested to date.

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List of advisors

Cafeyn

  • M&A: Cambon Partners (Laurent Azout, Alexandre Aymard)
  • Legal: Argos Avocats (Julien Sanciet)
  • VDD Finance / Tax : KPMG (Philippe Blanadet, Benoit Luscan / Jérôme Talleux, Edouard Mouveaux)
  • Management & Tax : Jeausserand Audouard (Elodie Cavazza), DWF (Vincent Lazimi)

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Bregal Milestone

  • Legal : Gowling WLG (Patrick Mousset)
  • Finance & Tax : PwC (Nicolas Veillepeau, Xavier Etienne)
  • Commercial : EY-Parthenon (Pierre Bosquet)

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April 2024

Introduction

The Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA” or “regulator”) in the Prudential sourcebook for MiFID Investment Firms in the FCA Handbook (“MIFIDPRU”) sets out the detailed prudential requirements that apply to Bregal Milestone LLP, (“Bregal” or the “Firm”). Chapter 8 of MIFIDPRU (“MIFIDPRU 8”) sets out public disclosure rules and guidance with which the Firm must comply, further to those prudential requirements.

Bregal is classified under MIFIDPRU as a small and non-interconnected MIFIDPRU investment firm (“SNI MIFIDPRU Investment Firm”). As such, the Firm is required by MIFIDPRU 8 to disclose information regarding its remuneration policy and practices.

The purpose of these disclosures is to give stakeholders and market participants an insight into the Firm’s culture and to assist stakeholders in making more informed decisions about their relationship with the Firm.

This document has been prepared by Bregal in accordance with the requirements of MIFIDPRU 8 and is verified by the Board. Unless otherwise stated, all figures are as at the Firm’s 31 December financial year-end.

Remuneration Policy and Practices

Overview

As an SNI MIFIDPRU Investment Firm, Bregal is subject to the basic requirements of the MIFIDPRU Remuneration Code (as laid down in Chapter 19G of the Senior management arrangements, Systems and Controls sourcebook in the FCA Handbook (“SYSC”)). The purpose of the remuneration requirements is to:

  • Promote effective risk management in the long-term interests of the Firm and its clients;
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  • Support positive behaviours and healthy firm cultures; and
  • Discourage behaviours that can lead to misconduct and poor customer outcomes.

The objective of Bregal’s remuneration policies and practices is to establish, implement and maintain a culture that is consistent with, and promotes, sound and effective risk management and does not encourage risk-taking which is inconsistent with the risk profile of the Firm and the services that it provides to its clients.

In addition, Bregal recognises that remuneration is a key component in how the Firm attracts, motivates, and retains quality staff and sustains consistently high levels of performance, productivity, and results. As such, the Firm’s remuneration philosophy is also grounded in the belief that its people are the most important asset and provide its greatest competitive advantage.

The Firm is committed to excellence, teamwork, ethical behaviour, and the pursuit of exceptional outcomes for its clients. From a remuneration perspective, this means that performance is determined through the assessment of various factors that relate to these values, and by making considered and informed decisions that reward effort, attitude, and results.

Characteristics of the Firm’s Remuneration Policy and Practices

Remuneration at Bregal is made up of fixed and variable components. The fixed component is set in line with market competitiveness at a level to attract and retain skilled staff. Variable remuneration is paid on a discretionary basis and takes into consideration the Firm’s financial performance as well as the financial performance of each business unit, and the financial and non-financial performance of the individual in contributing to the Firm’s success. All staff members are eligible to receive variable remuneration.

The fixed and variable components of remuneration are appropriately balanced: the fixed component represents a sufficiently high proportion of the total remuneration to enable the operation of a fully flexible policy on variable remuneration. This allows for the possibility of paying no variable remuneration component, which the Firm would do in certain situations, such as where the Firm’s profitability performance is constrained, or where there is a risk that the Firm may not be able to meet its capital or liquidity regulatory requirements.

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The Firm’s remuneration policy and practices are reviewed annually by the Firm’s senior management.

Quantitative Remuneration Disclosure

For the financial year 1 January to 31 December 2023, the total amount of remuneration awarded to all staff was £8,002,731 of which £5,121,421 comprised the fixed component of remuneration, and £2,881,310 comprised the variable component. For these purposes, ‘staff’ is defined broadly, and includes, for example, employees of the Firm itself, partners or members, employees of other entities in the Bregal Group and secondees.

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