group.one expands into Central and Eastern Europe by signing an agreement to acquire Webglobe from the Founder Igor Strečko and Sandberg Capital

Daniel Hagemeier, CEO of group.one, commented: "The CEE region is a vibrant space offering immense potential for providing digital solutions to small businesses. This strategic acquisition aligns perfectly with our growth ambitions. With Webglobe’s strong position in the region and talented team, we are confident in our ability to accelerate growth and innovation in this dynamic region."

Webglobe was founded in 1999 by Igor Strečko and Juraj Hanták. Since then, it has become a leader on the Central European web hosting market. The company gradually grew thanks to dozens of acquisitions and integration of several Central European web hosting players. Today, it manages almost 300,000 registered domains belonging to almost 100,000 clients and registers approximately 10% of national domains in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Serbia. 

"group.one will build on the solid foundations established by Igor and the team at Webglobe. We are pleased that our joint efforts have helped us attract a strategic partner like group.one, who has chosen Webglobe as a platform for further expansion in the CEE region," commented Martin Fedor, Founder and Managing Partner of Sandberg Capital."Current CEO Giacomo Tognoni joins group.one and will will play a pivotal part in driving growth, innovation, and delivering exceptional value to Webglobe’s customers. This partnership is important not only for the local business ecosystem, but also for the digitization of the Central European region," added Jakub Krajčovič, investment manager at Sandberg Capital, who managed the investment in Webglobe and led the transaction.

"Together with private equity firm Sandberg Capital, we have built one of the leading web hosting providers in Central and Eastern Europe since 2019. Our priority was to find a partner under whom Webglobe will continue to grow and 100,000 customers will receive even better services," said Igor Strečko, who also outlined his future plans in more detail. "My goal is to continue building successful business projects and investing in companies that find raising capital the most challenging."

Advisors on the transaction on the seller side were investment bank Raymond James, law firms Barger Prekop (Slovakia); Kocián, Šolc, Balaštík (Czechia); and Moravčević, Vojnovič and partners (Serbia) and financial advisor BDO. The completion of the transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

Webglobe is originally a Slovak domain registrar and web hosting platform established in 1999 in Bratislava. It was founded by Slovak entrepreneur Igor Strečko together with technology expert Juraj Hanták. Both wanted to offer aspiring entrepreneurs online representation, i. e. online presentation of their brand, activities and goods. Webglobe offers a wide range of products from domains and web hosting to marketing and security tools for successful digital business of small and medium-sized businesses. 

Sandberg Capital is a Slovak private equity firm established in 2014. It focuses on investing in small and medium-sized companies in Slovakia and the CEE region in the sectors of IT, telecommunications, agriculture, education and retail. Sandberg Capital manages more than €340 million on behalf of private and institutional investors. 

Igor Strečko founded and led the Slovak company Webglobe for more than 20 years, where he made the first acquisitions on the domestic web hosting market. Under Igor's leadership, Webglobe became the Slovak number two and successfully expanded to the Czech Republic and Serbia. So far, it has closed 24 strategic acquisitions. After selling his stake in Webglobe to group.one, he fully focuses on supporting small and medium-sized companies in the Czech Republic and Slovakia not only through financing, but also by passing on his experience.

group.one Headquartered in Sweden and with offices in 12 countries, group.one serves over 2 million customers, predominantly small-and medium-size enterprises. The company provides digital solutions such as Software as a Service and Hosting. Under group.one ownership, leading brands like one.com, WP Rocket, Imagify, Rank Math, Hostnet.nl, Herold.at and 20+ others enable customers to go and grow online. The company has significantly grown its revenues to over €300 million in the financial year ending 30th September 2023.