Drake Star Partners Advises Fairphone On Its Equity And Debt Fundraising From A Consortium Of Investors Led By Pdenh

AMSTERDAM | December 11, 2018 – Fairphone has successfully raised a major round of investments. The mission-aligned funding comes from lead investor PDENH, impact investor Quadia, existing Fairphone investors DOEN Participaties & PYMWYMIC, and other investors. Drake Star Partners acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Fairphone in this transaction.

This fundraise took place alongside a recent crowdfunding campaign on Oneplanetcrowd which closed in August 2018,  totaling an aggregate €7 million in capital raised. Fairphone also obtained firm commitments for an additional €13 million in debt finance.

These investments, combined with the appointment of Fairphone’s new CEO, Eva Gouwens, will provide the social enterprise with a stable foundation to sustainably scale up its operations, research new products, and business models, while expanding its sales efforts in untapped European markets.

Headquartered in Amsterdam, Fairphone is the first smartphone company in the world to design and develop a modular ethical smartphone. While the assembly of phones often involve complex logistics, production processes and supply chain, Fairphone’s mission is to make a positive impact on how phones are made, used and recycled.

Commenting on the fundraising, Eva Gouwens, Fairphone’s CEO, said: “With the tremendous support of our community and investors, we exceeded our initial targets for this round and are in a very fortunate and stable position to take the next steps for our company and our mission to change the electronics industry from the inside.”

Frank Verbeek, Managing Partner of Drake Star Partners Netherlands, concluded: “Fairphone is the embodiment of the shift in consumer preference. This complex transaction symbolizes the commitment from existing shareholders. It also illustrates Fairphone’s determination and sustainable approach within the smartphone market.” He continued: “The financing transaction included a crowdfunding campaign, equity investment, and a debt facility. We are confident that, when put together, these puzzle pieces pave the way for Fairphone’s future successes.”

Drake Star Partners team: Frank Verbeek, Sherief Rahim, Marlon Brand

Legal advisors: NautaDutilh

About Fairphone

Fairphone is a social enterprise that is building a movement for fairer electronics. By making a phone, Fairphone is opening up the supply chain and creating new relationships between people and their products. Fairphone is making a positive impact across the value chain in mining, design, manufacturing and life cycle while expanding the market for products that put ethical values first. Together with our community, we’re changing the way products are made.

For more information, please visit www.fairphone.com

About PDENH

Participatiefonds Duurzame Economie Noord-Holland invests in start-ups and established enterprises with a sustainable business model which contribute to the sustainable economy of North Holland. Focus areas of PDENH are energy transition, sustainable mobility and circular economy.

For more information, please visit www.pdenh.nl

About the consortium of investors

Quadia (www.quadia.ch): Founded in 2010 and located in Geneva, Quadia specializes in direct impact investments, through equity, debt and funds in line with its mission “We finance today the solutions for tomorrow.”

PYMWYMIC (www.pymwymic.com): Pymwymic is the “Put Your Money Where Your Meaning Is Community” of impact investors: a community of families, philanthropists and individual investors funding the new economy through the support of for-profit companies creating global solutions.

DOEN Participaties (www.doenparticipaties.nl): DOEN Participations has the ambition to make the world greener and more social. DOEN Participations invests in the early phase of companies and dares to take risks. DOEN Participaties is fully owned and managed by DOEN Foundation.

Oneplanetcrowd (www.oneplanetcrowd.nl): Oneplanetcrowd is Europe’s leading sustainable crowdfunding platform. Since launching in 2012 Oneplanetcrowd has grown into a platform with more than 25,000 active investors and has raised over €30,000,000 in funding, providing seed money or growth capital for more than 200 projects.

Inquiries

For further inquiries, please contact:

Frank Verbeek
Managing Partner | Drake Star Partners Netherlands
Frank.verbeek@drakestar.com, +31 653 839 013

Sherief Rahim
Senior Associate | Drake Star Partners Netherlands
Sherief.rahim@drakestar.com, +31 643 951 155

Marlon Brand
Analyst | Drake Star Partners Netherlands
Marlon.brand@drakestar.com, +31 615 027 675