Hi Markus! Congratulations once again on the transaction with Afinum. How did the first months of the cooperation go?
Thank you very much! I can only report positive things. The cooperation is very friendly and trusting. Afinum is a very experienced and entrepreneurially minded investor which is a true benefit for TISSO. The personal relationship is also characterized by great sympathy.
TISSO has developed impressively in recent years. What are the factors driving this success?
TISSO is not only a developer and producer of therapeutic food supplements but has also developed a holistic diagnostic and therapeutic concept specifically for the needs of therapists. We call this the MitoBiom® concept, which targets the mitochondria in the cells and the vital bacteria, the microbiome. In addition, we have expanded our seminar concept with further trainings. This enables us to inspire therapists to apply our concept. By constantly expanding our partner network, we are able to reach more and more patients – often chronically ill – and improve their health by taking our products.
In the area of contract manufacturing – our second line of business – we are also unique as a full-service provider, as our service portfolio goes well beyond the usual service level in the industry. We do not see ourselves solely as a producer of dietary supplements but provide our customers with full support and advice from formulation, product design, marketability testing of the products to logistics and beyond via our special teams. Our customers are very grateful for this additional and holistic service, allowing us to build very long-term customer relationships and grow with our customers. In summary, TISSO’s extraordinary success is based on the combination of our scientific and entrepreneurial know-how.
What were the reasons for starting a sales process?
TISSO has developed tremendously over the last few years and the organization itself has grown steadily. However, we realized that the next evolutionary stage was imminent. In the next few years, we will significantly expand our production capacities by opening another site. This provides excellent conditions to benefit overproportionally from the growth of the dietary supplements market in the future. Internationalization is also on the agenda and offers great potential. Nevertheless, we are aware of the complexity of these plans. Therefore, we were looking for a strong and intrinsically motivated growth partner to support us in reaching our goals even faster. In addition, a partial financial capitalization of our life’s work was also appealing.
Why did you choose ox8 Corporate Finance as your M&A advisor? How do you evaluate the cooperation?
I considered five M&A consultancies. The ox8 team was recommended to me by a business friend who had also been very successfully accompanied by ox8 in their sales process and raved about them. At our first meeting, I was immediately convinced by the people involved, as they were not only professionally skilled, but also approachable on a personal level. I particularly liked the fact that they understood both our business model and our corporate culture. The DNA of TISSO and ox8 simply matched perfectly.
ox8 Corporate Finance did an excellent job of managing the entire M&A process. Especially in the intense phases of the process, such as due diligence, they took a lot of work off our hands so that we could still go about our day-to-day business. In doing so, they exceeded our high expectations. The team acted in a highly professional, committed and structured manner. In addition, there was an extremely pleasant atmosphere throughout. Accordingly, we are very happy to have chosen ox8 as our M&A advisor and even retain a friendly relationship with them. For example, we are currently planning a weekend trip together.
Why did you choose Afinum as your partner?
The ox8 team presented us with a great selection of potential partners that we were able to get to know more closely during the process. We certainly could have worked very well with many of them. In the end, however, we chose Afinum because they quickly understood our “Brand Promise” and the “Personal Fit” was just there. We were very impressed that they fully identified with the “TISSO” brand right from the start. We are therefore very pleased to have Afinum as a highly experienced growth partner at our side. We are already very much looking forward to the further cooperation and are excited about what the future will bring.
What are your personal plans and those for the future of TISSO?
Currently, I continue to serve TISSO as CEO, although we have distributed many operational responsibilities in management through the introduction of an OKR system and maintain a very agile way of working. This helps me considerably to focus on strategic issues. My goal has always been to empower management as much as possible and to develop the strategic guidelines together. As a result, our strategic goals are transparent to all employees. After a certain transition phase, however, I will tend to take on an advisory board role in the medium term in order to have even more personal time.
At TISSO, the focus is on greater market penetration in Germany and also on internationalization. We still see great potential here, which we want to leverage through the second production site in Olpe. In addition, the development of a second brand is on the agenda.
