As of 5th December, Prosperus Growth private equity fund, owns the majority stake in the company Yellow Sumbarine d.o.o. which is behind Croatia’s largest chain of craft burgers. Prosperus Growth raised over EUR 59 million and was additionally supported by the European Investment Fund (EIF) through the CROGIP program and Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR).
This investment marks the first investment into hospitality for Prosperus Growth. Previously, 51 percent of Yellow Submarine’s equity was owned by The Garden Brewery, while in 2019 Submarine achieved revenue of HRK 34.37 million. Now that the majority ownership stake has been handed over to Prosperus Growth, an increase of 171.46 percent is expected to occur in the three-year period, seeing as Submarine’s 2022 revenue is now expected to amount to HRK 93.31 million.
“I am extremely pleased with the opportunity to invest in a fast-growing and quality brand like Submarine. From the beginning, Prosperus Growth has positioned itself as a fund that invests in companies with significant potential for regional and global growth, and in this context, we are also looking at Submarine. As a co-owner of this brand, we want to contribute to its further development and an even stronger presence in the premium burger segment,” said Tomislav Tičić, member of the Board of Prosperus-Invest, the company that manages the Prosperus Growth fund, on the occasion of closing the transaction.
The company Yellow Submarine d.o.o has even prior to this investment achieved great success, it is the only non-technological company from Croatia that was on the Financial Times list of 1000 fastest growing companies in 2020 and will generate revenue of HRK 94.3 million in 2022. Their product, Submarine, started as one restaurant in Zagreb opened in 2014, and is now a chain of 16 restaurants located in Croatia. Furthermore, Submarine is the only Croatian burger brand included in the map of the 50 best burgers in the world based on research by the British tourist portal Big7 Travel.
“Quality natural foods, care for the local community and employees, and a tempting taste in every bite are values that we have not deviated from since the first day of business, and we will remain faithful to them in this new phase of business development. We only serve healthy and delicious, organic ingredients without the use of additives – these are the reasons why our guests keep coming back and why we will serve more than a million burgers in 2022 alone. This transaction is a great success for us. We are convinced that Prosperus Growth will bring us new momentum so that we can reach an even greater number of satisfied guests with our burgers,” emphasized Dragoljub Božović, the president of the Yellow Submarine Management Board.
Prosperus Growth has previously invested in IntechOpen which is the world leader in the Open Access Book market. One of the founders of Open Access happens to be Alexandar Lazinica, who has prior to the transaction with Prosperus Growth, been the owner of Submarine. Additionally, Prosperus Growth previously invested in Neos and the software company SV Group.
Prosperus is a member of the Croatian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (CVCA).