Bregal Milestone invests in Epipoli, a European leader in Customer Engagement solutions

Bregal Milestone, a pan-European private capital firm, has acquired a significant minority stake in Epipoli, an innovative company focused on customer engagement solutions, based in Milan, Italy.

The investment by Bregal Milestone is the fourth out of the €400 million fund and marks the first transaction in Italy.

Epipoli is a fast-growing leading provider of gift cards and customer engagement services to corporates in Italy. The company introduced gift cards in Italy in 2006 and today is one of the leading prepaid payment networks in Europe. Epipoli’s Fintech platform, Highways, already used by over 250 blue chip companies, is a tool used to create branded currency in the context of customer engagement. The platform integrates payment systems with customised corporate solutions for their loyalty, welfare, incentive and engagement marketing programs. The company has a growing network of more than 50,000 points of sales and more than 4 million consumers use Epipoli’s services.

Bregal Milestone partners with CEO and Founder Gaetano Giannetto and his team to consolidate the company’s market leadership, further accelerate growth and support the international expansion.

Epipoli was supported in this transaction by Inside Partners and Baker McKenzie. Bregal Milestone was supported by DLA Piper, McKinsey & Co., KPMG and Kirkland & Ellis.

About Bregal Milestone

Bregal Milestone is a private capital firm managing a €400 million pan-European fund dedicated to making investments in high-growth European companies. The firm provides strategic assistance and capital to support market-leading companies across a wide variety of transaction situations. Targeted sectors include technology, healthcare, consumer and business services, high value manufacturing and specialty finance. Bregal Milestone is part of Bregal Investments, which is an operating company of COFRA. COFRA is a privately held group of companies headquartered in Switzerland, which also include a global fashion retail business (C&A) and real estate business (Redevco). Bregal Investments was founded in 2002 and has grown extensively since then, with over €12 billion invested to date.

About Epipoli

Epipoli, founded in 2000 by Gaetano Giannetto, is one of the international players in the Fintech industry and leader in Customer Engagement. In 2006 Epipoli introduced Gift Cards in Italy and in 2017 the Company acquired Groupalia, the first Italian social shopping operator. Today, with 250 partners in over 50,000 points of sale, including 5,000 large retailers, Epipoli represents the link between the digital solutions and the physical points of sale.