Zdeněk Cendra sells CDN77 stake to CVC in Czech tech deal of the year

Czech tech billionaire Zdeněk Cendra has struck one of the biggest business deals of the year in Central Europe: outside investors are entering his company CDN77 for the first time in its history. A minority stake in the business was acquired by Strategic Opportunities, an investment platform belonging to one of the world's largest private equity funds — CVC.

CDN77 is a content delivery network (CDN) that Cendra founded in 2011. The company already expects EBITDA of around $150 million this year. Despite the arrival of a new partner, control of the business stays with its founder: Cendra retains a controlling stake and will continue to run the company as CEO.

“We held long talks with potential partners, and the conversations with CVC were different from the rest. It was about respect for what we've already built and for where we want to go next, not about what they'd want to change in the company,” Cendra said of the deal.

The parties, as usual, are not disclosing the exact sum, but it's known that two major funds — Carlyle and CVC — competed for the right to become CDN77's partner, with CVC winning the selection.

“We evaluated a great many tech companies, and CDN77 is a genuinely unique case. The company's main asset isn't its fewer than two hundred points of presence around the world, but its people and the unique corporate culture that Zdeněk has managed to build over the past fifteen years,” said Jakub Čanda, senior managing director at CVC.

Over the years CDN77 has grown into one of the world's largest players in content delivery — in effect, a global network of servers that delivers online content to users from the geographic point closest to them. Today it's a global edge network with more than 230 locations worldwide and a throughput of 330 terabits per second. Its clients include Japan's Rakuten TV, China's TikTok, the sports channel Sport 1, and the European Space Agency.

Forbes has been following Cendra's career for a long time: back in 2016 the entrepreneur made the “30 Under 30” list, and he founded his first company at the age of 16. Today he ranks 17th on Forbes' list of the wealthiest Czechs, with a fortune estimated at 37.3 billion crowns. The new deal with CVC is meant to be the foundation for the business's further global growth.