Caseking

Caseking is a leading European supplier of PC gaming, eSports and tech products.

Founded in Berlin in 2003, Caseking has grown from an online store for gaming and PC accessories into one of Europe’s leading online retailers of high-performance computer systems, PC components and accessories for the gaming sector.

Today, Caseking employs some 400 people across its sites in Germany, the UK, Scandinavia, Southern and Eastern Europe as well as Taiwan. Through its network of six warehouses, Caseking processes more than 540,000 orders and ships around four million goods worldwide each year. Revenue has more than doubled since investment, having increased from €96m to €239m for the financial year ending April 2018.

VALUE CREATION

Equistone Funds have worked alongside the management team to support Caseking’s continued organic growth through the development and roll-out of its own brand products such as Noblechair, Kolink and Nitro Concepts.

Additionally, the business has expanded in key European markets, having successfully completed four build-up acquisitions during Equistone’s investment period:

• Kellytech, an online PC hardware distributor, based in Hungary, was acquired in July 2014.
• Globaldata, acquired in February 2017, expanded sales within the Portuguese and Spanish markets.
• Trigono, a Swedish B2B software and hardware distributor, was acquired November 2017 and initiated Caseking’s expansion into the Scandinavian market.
• Finnish-based online retailer of IT-hardware, components and entertainment electronics, Jimm’s PC-Store, was acquired in March 2018 and further reinforced Caseking’s presence in the Nordics.

THE EXIT

Equistone Fund IV sold its investment in Caseking to Gilde Buy Out Partners in August 2018.