Mavriq buys 80% of Switcho Group

Mavriq has signed a binding agreement to acquire an 80% stake in Switcho from founders Marco Tricarico, Redi Vyshka, Francesco Laffi and private investors, including Azimut. Switcho is a fast-growing Italian company, founded in 2019 with the aim of helping Italians save money on electricity, gas, telephony and insurance utilities. The service is characterised by a highly distinctive and fully digital model, which performs a personalised bill analysis and takes care of the bureaucracy related to the switching process on behalf of the customer. Switcho also collaborates with 9 of the largest Italian banks that have chosen to integrate Switcho's offer into their proprietary apps and channels in order to provide their customers with a distinctive service. The same collaboration model has also been implemented with more than 200 fintech companies and real estate agencies. The founders will retain 20% of the shares (participation subject to cross put and call options with Mavriq) and will continue to manage the company in its new growth phase.

Mavriq, the newborn institutional brand that brings together the brands of the Moltiply Group (new name of Gruppo MutuiOnline) active in online comparison and intermediation of products and services, is among the leading technology companies in the sector at European level. With 19 online comparison brands in 5 countries (among the best-known: Segugio, MutuiOnline and Trovaprezzi in Italy, LeLynx in France, Rastreator in Spain and Mexico, and Pricewise - in the process of being acquired - in the Netherlands), counting more than 250 million annual visits and serving more than 300 million potential customers, Mavriq's businesses generated €188.1 million in revenue (+44% year-on-year) and €60.7 million in EBITDA (+30% year-on-year) in 2023.

With this acquisition, Mavriq continues its expansion (only six weeks ago it announced the signing of a binding agreement to purchase 80% of Pricewise in the Netherlands) and strengthens its presence in the Italian market for the distribution of energy and telecommunications contracts.

The agreed enterprise value for 100% of the Switcho shares is EUR 20 million. In execution of the agreement, shares for 72.1% of Switcho's capital have already been acquired at the same time as the subscription, while the remaining shares to reach a stake of 80% will be acquired by 31 October 2024. The purchase is financed by already available cash. An earn-out of up to EUR 4m is also planned based on the results Switcho will achieve in 2024. In 2023, Switcho reported revenues of EUR 6m, with an Ebitda of EUR 1.8m, both of which are expected to grow significantly in 2024.