Hiveterminal Locks in Swiss Venture Investment for International Market Expansion
By: Ugur Yildirim
Tags: Slovenia, Vc Funding, VC, Factoring, Hvn

This investment from a respected Swiss-based boutique VC firm is proof of our motivation for international expansion in the days, weeks and months ahead. The investment will be used for both the expansion of our business and the necessary tech-development to make that a reality. In addition, this will give us additional power to tap into the global network that our new VC offers.

There will be some changes in the ownership, organization and overall expansion strategy, but we believe the changes are best for the company and will provide us a better base for success.

Changes in Ownership

Some changes were made in the ownership structure, with new investors entering the ownership structure. Our Co-Founder and CTO Dejan Jovanovic has decided to exit the company, while I became the majority small shareholder. The new VC now holds 51% of the company. Domen has entered the shareholder structure as a minority shareholder, as well, alongside co-founder Jure.

I would like to take this opportunity to extend my gratitude and respect to all our previous team members that will not be with us in the future. Thank you for all that you have done for the company!

Changes in the Company

These adjustments in the ownership structure have initiated changes in the organization, as well. Effective immediately, Domen, our CMO, has taken over the role of CEO, while I and a representative of the VC firm will act as an advisory board to the team. Both of us are strong believers in the future success of Hiveterminal and will have proactive roles in supporting Domen and the rest of the team in growing the business in the international environment. The team in our Ljubljana HQ will stay the same, with Eva taking over as CMO, overseeing marketing and sales activities. We will add new team members as we grow.

Business and Product Development Roadmap Overview

We tested the platform, sales, and marketing channels in Slovenia and, in less than a year, we registered over 1.3% of all companies in the country. We have been growing close to 30% per month in almost every category we can measure. The most important category, by far, and the one that will get new invoices on the market is the number of new registrations and verifications. We have established a successful path to getting new companies on the platform. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, we have been testing a more digital-first approach to sales and marketing and we will use all those tactics when entering new markets.

We have already started to develop a set of functionalities that will enable us to register companies from new, non-Slovenian, markets. We will finalize and implement these changes to the platform by the end of Q2/2020. The changes will enable us to test a new market entry prior to fully automating all processes, equipping us with better feedback and more information before we enter a new market. We are finalizing the market analysis and will provide you with our business development roadmap in the next few weeks. We are doing everything we can to ensure that all European companies will soon be able to receive liquidity through our blockchain-based platform!

Next Steps

Our new CEO Domen will share his insights and future plans with our community members soon and the rest of the team will follow our lead in making this product a global success story. The advisory board will provide support in terms of market entry and network so that our expansion will be smooth, fast and effective.

We were among the first to realize the benefit of using blockchain technology in invoice financing and now the time has come to ensure the future we envisioned in 2016/17 when we decided to create what is now Hiveterminal: a patent-pending solution that provides liquidity to SMEs and high returns to investors. With the team, advisors and the support of our new investor, our goal can and will be reached.

We hope you are as excited about the future as we are.

Stay home, stay safe, stay tuned!

Ugur