From running stores to a structured fund.
A conviction born inside the market: from managing e-commerce assets to building a financial vehicle.
A path shaped by listening to the market.
TakeMyShop's founder began her career in mergers and acquisitions before founding a technology start-up, a path that led her naturally to e-commerce asset management. TakeMyShop now runs more than one hundred online stores across Europe.
Many investors wanted to own an online store without running it. Meeting that demand case by case made one thing clear: a diversified portfolio, sourced and operated industrially, de-risks the asset class where a single acquisition exposes it.
That is what Breakwater is for: a single vehicle, open to qualified investors, that owns stores outright, entrusts them to TakeMyShop and pays a dividend every year.
The management team chose a demanding framework: articles of association and a shareholders' agreement that set the rules for governance, distributions and exit, half-yearly reporting to shareholders, and a documented investment process from first contact to the integration of each store.
From running stores to a structured fund.
The founder started in mergers and acquisitions, then founded a technology start-up. She went on to create TakeMyShop, which runs online stores end to end: operations, acquisition, SEO, customer service, logistics.
Investors want to own a profitable store without running it. TakeMyShop structures these acquisitions one by one, on their behalf.
Deal after deal, one thing became clear: a single store concentrates the risk, a diversified portfolio absorbs it. Only an industrial approach captures the yield at scale.
A single vehicle, open to qualified investors: stores owned 100%, run by TakeMyShop, paying a dividend every year.
A hundred stores, one know-how.
A hundred stores, one know-how.
Source: Breakwater Capital, TakeMyShop. Target, not guaranteed.
Operators before investors.
The team launching Breakwater I already runs more than one hundred stores in Europe through TakeMyShop. It is not discovering the sector at the moment of investing: it operates before it buys.
That experience shows at every stage of the fund. Opportunities are pre-audited by operators, sellers talk to peers, and operations are taken over the day after the sale, with no transition period handed to a third party.
Alongside the management team, a panel of advisors, e-commerce executives and M&A experts, takes part in the due diligence of every deal. Investment decisions rest on a complete audit file, shared and archived.
- —A background in M&A and company building
- —Hands-on, end-to-end store management
- —Audits led by operators, not by finance profiles new to the sector
One asset exposes, a portfolio protects.
Lessons from a hundred stores.
A profitable store stays profitable when it is run with discipline. Returns depend as much on operations as on the purchase price.
A single asset is exposed to every shock. A portfolio of stores across different sectors smooths their effects.
Paying the operator 15% of revenue ties its performance to that of the assets. It only earns more when the stores do well.
Accounts are not enough. Traffic, SEO, suppliers and contracts are checked with the store's own tools.
The takeover is prepared before closing. A store integrated without disruption keeps its customers and its search rankings.
Regular reporting, clear and comparable from one period to the next, is the basis of the relationship with shareholders.
Buying alone, or investing through a fund.
What changes for an investor seeking exposure to e-commerce.
| Buying a store alone | Investing in Breakwater | |
|---|---|---|
| Sourcing | Up to the buyer | Direct, off-market and through a partner network |
| Audit | Often limited | Financial, traffic, SEO, supplier and legal, led by operators |
| Management | To be done or outsourced | Fully delegated to TakeMyShop |
| Risk | Concentrated on one asset | Spread across a ⅔ + ⅓ portfolio |
| Information | Up to the buyer to compile | Half-yearly reporting to shareholders |
| Return | Depends on a single store | Target annual dividend of 15% from Y2 |
A fund is only as good as its ecosystem.
TakeMyShop, Lucrazia, TheLab, our partner network, brokers and advisors: the people who source, audit and run the fund's assets.
For qualified or professional investors only (AMF definition). Risk of total or partial loss of capital; the investment is illiquid. The returns mentioned are targets, neither guaranteed nor binding.