Bullnet Capital sells Zhilabs to Samsung

Samsung bought the business from Spanish VC firm Bullnet Capital and the company’s co-founder and CEO Joan Raventós Simón.

According to a statement, with this sale Bullnet reaped a 10x return on its investment and generated more than 30% IRR over the holding period.

Following the deal, Zhilabs will be fully owned by Samsung but continue to operate independently under its own management.

Samsung expects to further enhance its 5G capabilities and strengthen its automated user-centric tools, service orchestration and analytics with this acquisition. 

This investment is part of Samsung’s plan, announced last summer, to invest KRW 25tn in businesses operating in the areas of artificial intelligence, 5G, automotive electronics components and biopharmaceuticals.

Previous funding
Bullnet Capital provided around €900,000 of seed capital to ZhiLabs in November 2008. The GP drew capital from its Bullnet II fund, which held a final close on €30m in July 2008.

Company
Founded in 2008, Zhilabs specialises in artificial intelligence-based network analytics. Its platform enables companies to analyze and test network performance in real-time. The company is headquartered in Barcelona and has an office in Madrid. It employs 25 people and reported revenues of €4m in 2017.

People
Bullnet Capital - Javier Ulecia, Miguel del Cañizo (founding partners).
Zhilabs - Joan Raventós Simón (co-founder, CEO).
Samsung Electronics - Youngky Kim (president, head of networks business).

Advisers
Acquirer – White & Case (legal).
Equity – Mooreland Partners (M&A); DA Lawyers (legal);
Company – Ejaso (legal).

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