The Polish IT consortium Euvic Group acquired 25.1% of the Ukrainian platform WeExpert, which helps freelancers legalize income from exchanges UpWork, Fiverr, Toptal and others with minimal taxes. “We take care of all legal and accounting aspects, allowing specialists to focus exclusively on what they do best,” explains WeExpert co-founder Roman Bezzubchenko.
WeExpert was founded in April 2022 by Yuri Gulets, Roman Bezzubchenko, Sergey Pronin and Egor Egorov. Currently, the company has more than 2,000 clients and is valued at €17 million, says CEO Yuri Gulets.
WeExpert's revenue in 2023 is $6 million. For the first half of 2024 - $4 million. The company has offices in Warsaw, Wroclaw and Katowice, where more than 100 people work.
“Collaboration with Euvic Group has provided an opportunity to increase business margins and reach a new level of recognition,” says Gulets. “Wojciech Wolny (CEO and co-founder of Euvic Group - Forbes Ukraine) liked our model of working with freelancers, and he offered to add them an order from Euvic.” Now all freelancers who have lost a client or want to change a project can receive a project from Euvic, Guletz adds.
Volny announced his intention to invest in the WeExpert business to the company’s founders back in 2022, but actually invested only a year and a half after the agreement, says Gulets. The total investment in WeExpert, including money from Volny and the founders, is €1.5 million, says Gulets. “Their approach to talent management and customer focus sets them apart from the competition,” says Volny.
Context
Founded in 2005, Euvic Group is one of the largest IT service companies in Poland with 6,000 specialists. She developed software commissioned by the state postal operator Poczta Polska, the Swiss bank with more than 7 million clients Swedbank AB, the Swiss furniture retailing company IKEA, etc.
Euvic Group's portfolio includes Lviv-based Exoft, Dnieper-based Artkai, Kharkov-based 7Devs and Vinnitsa-based Lampa Software. Ukrainian investment advisor Mergewave Capital helped to conclude transactions. The parties did not disclose the amounts of the agreements. However, the price tag is approximately the same, says Forbes Ukraine Volny. Artkai's largest purchase cost about $5 million, according to Forbes.
The company's revenue in 2022 is $320 million. This is almost twice as much as in 2020, when the company ended the year with $184 million in revenue and over $13 million in net profit. These figures border on the Ukrainian outsourcers EPAM and GlobalLogic, which are among the three largest IT companies in Ukraine in terms of revenue.
For 2024, Volny planned to increase shares in portfolio companies, build cooperation between them and continue purchases. Investment check - up to $7.5 million. The focus is on outsourcers of about 70-150 specialists with an EBITDA estimate of five to six.
