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Deal 5: Orqa Holding Limited CEO Srdjan Kovacevic on EUR 1.3 Million Investment

Deal 5: Orqa Holding Limited CEO Srdjan Kovacevic on EUR 1.3 Million Investment

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On March 3, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that Marohnic, Tomek and Gjoic had advised both Day One Capital and Orqa Holding Limited on the former’s EUR 1.3 million investment in the latter. CEEIHM spoke with Srdjan Kovacevic, CEO at Orqa Holding Limited to learn more.

CEEIHM: Let’s talk a bit about your company. What is the story of Orqa Holding Limited?

Srdjan: We originally started out as a Hardware Engineering company, providing R&D services to clients; basically a one-stop-shop for anyone that wants to do hardware. We offered EU-based full-stack hardware dev, with in-house manufacturing capability for small and mid-sized volume runs. Our selling point was to offer an EU-based service for something people would normally go to China for. 

This was back in late 2016. We first served clients from the SEE, but quickly started to get clients world-wide: from the US all the way to Singapore. We grew our capabilities with each project, and started toying with an idea of doing a product of our own.

We started working on the FPV.One, our flagship product, back in 2017. Some time during 2019, Orqa was born. Ever since then, we were slowly shifting our focus from engineering services to our own product portfolio. 

Today, around 4.5 years after inception, we are a tech company of 45 employees, doing immersive video, high-performance video systems, low-latency wireless comms links, various forms of drone tech, etc.

Our R&D is based in Croatia, but our holding company is based in Dublin. 

CEEIHM: Marohnic, Tomek, and Gjoic recently helped your company obtain a EUR 1.4 million investment from Day One Capital and your existing angel investors. What, in your view, made your company attractive for such an investment?

Srdjan: Our Angel Investors have been with us through thick and thin since late 2019, and Day One Capital was actually the first fund ever to reach out to us. We got to know each other back in 2018, and they’ve been following our growth and development for almost 2 years before signed a term sheet. 

So I guess it was the consistency of growth and overall development of our company that signalled to them that we are a good investment opportunity.

To turn the tables a bit, this protracted ‘courting period’ has also given us an opportunity to get to know Day One better, and to realise that we have an excellent fit. We grew to like how they function, and we came to a conclusion that it will be a pleasure and a great opportunity to work closely with them. 

CEEIHM: What’s next in line for your company, now that the funding is secured?

Srdjan: We will spend the first 12 months consolidating our operations, growing our sales volume, and extending our product portfolio. We have very exciting products and projects in the pipeline, and this capital injection will help us focus on getting them to market.

CEEIHM: It was reported that MTG advised both your company and the investor. Why did the parties prefer to have a sole advisor assisting them both and at what stage of the deal was MTG involved in the matter?

Srdjan: It was incredibly efficient to have a single advisor handle both due diligence and transaction, I would definitely advise this to anyone looking at a deal like this. Further to this, being that MTG is our legal advisor, checking conditions precedent off the list, and resolving issues found in the DD was simple and straightforward. 

It makes so much sense, that I’m wondering why this is not happening more often.

CEEIHM: What were the key qualities that made you choose MTG in the first place?

Srdjan: I had a pleasure of working with Josip Marohnic (the M in MTG) long before either MTG or Orqa were founded. Before that, during my career in finance and after, I had various degrees of pleasure and displeasure working with other legal counsels. 

After having delivered a rather complicated with Josip and his team, in record time, I realised that if you find a lawyer that you actually enjoy working with, you better make sure you stick with them (haha).

Originally reported by CEE In-House Matters.