Allegro

Private Equity Manager (GP)

Case study

About the company

Allegro is Poland’s largest online marketplace, with over 20 million registered users, allowing businesses and individuals to sell their products to consumers.

As the preferred online shopping destination for Polish customers, Allegro benefits from an iconic brand with exceptional user engagement metrics.

Allegro.pl is one of the world’s top ten e-commerce websites, attracting 12.6m customers.

The Allegro marketplace provides customers with advanced search functionality, safe payment transfer and financing solutions, a buyer protection programme and a managed delivery experience, while providing merchants with data tools and the ability to promote and advertise offers.

The investment rationale

As the e-commerce leader in Poland, Allegro is well-positioned to continue to benefit from the shift from offline to online shopping, which is underpenetrated relative to many other countries globally.

Over the course of their ownership, Mid-Europa, in collaboration with Cinven and Permira, has supported the management of Allegro’s key strategic initiatives of expanding product breadth, optimising merchant processes and innovating the technology platform.

Allegro was listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on 12 October 2020, priced at PLN43 per share. PIP continues to be invested in the company.

Our relationship

Pantheon is a primary investor in all three of the financial sponsors that backed this business.

In 2017, PIP co-invested £3.0m (€3.5m) in Allegro. PIP has also participated in three other co-investments alongside Mid Europa.