Loopia Group has decided to combine their two companies - ACTIVE 24, #3 in Czechia, and WebSupport, #1 in Slovakia - into one organisation. This follows the April 1, 2019 acquisition of WebSupport and is another step towards becoming a web hosting leader in Central Europe. The change is effective from May 1, 2019.
The purpose is to foster tight cooperation between these two brands at the level of top management. The strategic change will be led by the current CEO of WebSupport, Ján Cifra. “By combining our organizations, we will be able to leverage joint tech and marketing teams, our scale for more efficient operations and two amazing brands. I am looking forward to working with everyone and hope to bring clear benefits to our customers, partners and the community.” – says Ján Cifra.
Ján Cifra has extensive experience in technology and management. He previously acted as a Director of the company Axasoft for two years and served as CFO and head of business development at the successful startup Piano Media. He has been head of WebSupport for almost four years. He received his MBA from the prestigious Vlerick Business School in Belgium.
Loopia Group would like to thank Petr Smida, who has led ACTIVE 24 and built the company into a big player and a strong brand. “We are very grateful for Petr Smida’s leadership of ACTIVE 24 over the past decade. He has built a solid company and a strong team that will be a core part of the new Central European entity.” says Sara Larell, CEO of Loopia Group.
Loopia Group is owned by Axcel, a Nordic private equity firm focusing on mid-market companies since June 2018. The ambition is to grow organically and continue the consolidation and become a regional leader, incl. through acquisitions. It will allow the company to provide all customers with even better services, products and new technologies.
Loopia Group is an innovative European web services and hosting business with operations in Sweden, through market leading Loopia, in the Czech Republic with ACTIVE 24 and in Slovakia and Hungary with WebSupport. Loopia Group also provides services to customers in Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Norway, Serbia, and Spain.
Axcel is a Copenhagen-based investment company founded in 1994, managing the capital of private investors and investing into a wide array of predominantly medium-sized enterprises, which have great and recognizable potential for growth and a carry potential for more acquisitions. It currently manages five funds with a total capital of over 2 billion EUR.
ACTIVE 24 is a leading provider of web hosting services and domain registrars in the Czech Republic. The company offers full-service internet solutions to small and medium-sized companies, predominantly in the form of web hosting and solutions for website development and management, e-mail and guaranteed-performance server solutions. ACTIVE 24 consistently follows and develops current trends at a high technical quality and with first-rate customer support. ACTIVE 24 is a time-tested company with a 20-year experience in its field.
WebSupport is the leader of the Slovak hosting market and the largest .sk domain registrar. The company has been on the market since 2002 and is one of the few companies to cross their line of business. They are actively involved in creating a healthy business and transparent environment, supporting startups, nonprofits, promising web designers, programmers and artists.
Sara Laurell, CEO Loopia Group, +46 72 708 4848, sara.laurell@loopiagroup.com
Ján Cifra, CEE MD Loopia Group, +421 903 184 310, jan.cifra@loopiagroup.com