Francisco Partners acquires Avangate
Bucharest, October 7, 2013. Gecad Ventures sells its majority stake in Avangate to California based private equity firm Francisco Partners, this being the third significant international exit for the Romanian technology venture group in the last 10 years.
Gecad Ventures has announced the sale of 100% of international ecommerce solutions provider Avangate to California based private equity firm Francisco Partners, for an undisclosed amount. Francisco Partners a leading private equity firm with more than USD 7 billion under management, intends to inject fresh growth capital in the business to fuel further expansion, product development and growth. Avangate was founded in 2006 by the prominent Romanian entrepreneur Radu Georgescu, who is also its majority shareholder through the Gecad Ventures fund.
Georgescu’s strategy to move the international headquarters of the company to Silicon Valley resulted in Avangate becoming a major ecommerce player in the North American market. The move also demonstrated the strong technical acumen of the Romanian technical and product development team.
As with other companies Radu has launched and exited, Avangate’s growth as a leading Romanian company and strong success on the global stage has provided new opportunities for the next generation of leaders to not only thrive in Romania but to build truly international businesses.
“As we all know, Romania has great technical talent, a very innovative mindset and is the perfect place to launch new businesses. Taking companies to Silicon Valley provides them with the ideal mix of great technology talent and visionary business skills. I hope I will be able to nurture more great companies and introduce them to the world through the Silicon Valley”, says Radu Georgescu, Founding Partner Gecad Ventures.
With over 20 years experience in building global technology businesses Radu Georgescu is Romania’s most successful serial entrepreneur and angel investor, and the leading figure behind the fund Gecad Ventures.
In 2003, Radu Georgescu brought Romania’s technology sector to global prominence by exiting his security software venture, ‘RAV Antivirus’ to Microsoft. This was followed by the acquisition of his second venture ‘ePayment’ in 2010 by Naspers Ltd., the global internet and entertainment group and one of the largest technology investors in the world. The exit of Avangate to Francisco Partners marks his third successful international exit in the last 10 years.
Gecad Ventures will continue its quest to support the Romanian entrepreneurial community and help them reach international markets not only through capital, but through the knowledge, experience and networking offered by its members.
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