Jan Fabini buys out investor Hlavenka and takes control of his brand

Jan Fabini, founder of the Czech cookware brand Fabini, has bought out the stake of his first investor, Jiří Hlavenka. After the deal closes he owns 97 percent of the company, while the remaining three percent stays with CEO Radka Vaculíková.

Hlavenka joined the project in 2018, when Fabini was just starting out. The founder was only twenty at the time. The investor put in about two million crowns, and that money helped get the business off the ground. According to Hlavenka, the possibility of a future buyout was discussed right at the start of their cooperation: Fabini wanted from the beginning to build a long-term family business, not a company to sell.

“When Honza Fabini founded the firm in 2018 and we agreed on the investment, he was already saying that his plan was to build a family company to hold for the long term. Not to build and sell. I like that approach, and even then, at the very beginning, we discussed this form of my exit as possible for both of us,” Jiří Hlavenka recalls.

For Fabini, the change in ownership structure means above all greater control over the company. According to him, the deal changes neither the way the firm works nor its strategy: the company will keep developing its cookware and focusing on customer experience. The idea behind the brand is to offer quality cookware at an affordable price and make cooking more enjoyable.

“I thank Jiří for his support at the start and for all our cooperation. Besides the roughly two million crowns that helped me launch the business, I also value the experience he shared with me,” says Jan Fabini.

Hlavenka calls his investment a success. He particularly highlights the company's ability to grow while staying profitable and without needing additional capital beyond the initial investment. Supporting young companies at an early stage, he says, is the main point of his role as an investor.

“My job is to help companies in the early stages, and once a firm professionalizes, my role shrinks,” he summed up.

Jiří Hlavenka is one of the leading Czech business angels. He has been investing in startups since the 1990s, and his portfolio now includes about fifty companies. “I believe Honza has everything it takes to join the ranks of the best and most successful Czech entrepreneurs and builders of family wealth. I wish him luck and will keep rooting for him,” the investor added.