HitFox Group

In the spring of 2011, Jan Beckers, Dr. Hanno Fichtner and Tim Koschella start building the foundation for HitFox Group. Part of the team is also Team Europe, together with whom Beckers founded SponsorPay (later “Fyber”) and Madvertise.

In the beginning, HitFox is a game distribution startup that focuses on offering deals on games and game equipment.

Read on to discover our journey from a “failed startup” to a leading company builder.

Before the official launch of HitFox, the team secures mid-7-figure funding. The backers are four of Germany’s leading VCs: Hasso Plattner Ventures, Holtzbrinck Ventures, Tengelmann Group, and Kite Ventures. Further supporters are business angels/private investors Lukasz Gadowski (Team Europe) and Heiko Hubertz (Bigpoint).

The first business model does not work out. But, the team and organization created in the process is strong and can support a change of direction. In line with the motto “fail fast”, the company soon pivots. HitFox new position is as a “shopping club” for games overstock. There is enough demand for the new model, yet, it does not scale well enough to meet the high ambitions of the team.

Sticking with the “failing fast” mantra the team pivots once more. This time it leads to the perfect opportunity for HitFox – Games Advertising. In this industry the team can leverage the skills they acquired and the organization they have built up so far. And there is plenty of room to grow.

In February 2012 we acquire ad2games (previously “Chili Entertainment”) to scale up our advertising business. The company is in a great market position, albeit under-managed, and needs revamping to become successful. The acquisition is a great fit for HitFox new business model, and provides ad2games with a platform to grow from.

From the start, the HitFox approach has been to choose growth markets over single ideas, build great teams, and to stay open. At the beginning of 2012 the team has many interesting ideas they want to pursue, and the idea of becoming a company builder is born.

The move into Game Advertising shows promise, but success is not yet reflected in the numbers. The initial funding is close to used up when the team invests large amounts of their own money. This convinces small stake investors to realize a second round of financing.

After one year we have 35 employees of 10 nationalities and 2 companies within the HitFox Group. The first year offered many challenges, but by the end of it we have come a long way from a failed startup.

With ad2games we started building a strong presence in the online games advertising industry. Parallel to this we see an opportunity in the mobile advertising space, which we expect to soon take off.

HitFox co-founder Tim Koschella partners up with one of our early employees, Kaya Taner, to found AppLift. AppLift is set up as a separate company to achieve synergies with ad2games existing business, but focus on the specific needs of the mobile advertising space.

From early on, AppLift experience great success in the US. As most of our clients have their base here, we establish an office in San Francisco to be closer to them. The office increases our presence in the US and help us reach even more US customers. HitFox co-founder Hanno Fichtner sets up the SF office and later relocates with his family to the Bay area.

With many important partners located in Asia, and especially in South Korea, we experience a need for a local presence. The Seoul office is set up to meet this need and give us better access to our customers in this part of the world.

To become a successful company builder we need to be able to move fast. With revenues starting to come in we want to take the opportunity to become more independent. We buy out a few of our initial investors; Hasso Plattner Ventures, Tengelmann Ventures, and Kite Ventures.

Wow! 400% revenue growth for ad2games during the first year with HitFox. When the company was acquired it was already earning seven-figure euro revenues, so the growth is fantastic!

One year after founding AppLift, Prime Ventures invest €10M to help AppLift speed up its global growth path within mobile games advertising.

When the second year commences we have grown to 85 employees of 25 nationalities and 3 companies within the HitFox Group. During our second year of business we have seen great successes for both acquired and own startups. We also began our international expansion by opening our offices in San Francisco and Seoul.

Big Data emerges as The technological paradigm shift for a wide array of industries. The use of data is also an underlying success factor for our advertising businesses. To strengthen our data expertise and tap into the potential of data, we acquire social analytics startup Datamonk. HitFox gives Datamonk an ideal platform for growth. We announce the deal to the public in March 2014.

Prime Ventures initial investment in AppLift boosted the company’s growth path. To continue to push AppLift towards greater successes, Prime Ventures invests a further €5M.

At the end of 2013, the quality of our companies finally reflects in our numbers. We reach a €15M profit for that year and experience an unprecedented annual revenue growth of 600%. We are especially happy that all our companies are contributing to this success.

Following the success of 2013, we see the benefits of being fast and independent as a company builder. With part of the profits from 2013 we buy out remaining investors.

The mobile market is booming. With AppLift we have built up vast technology, network and expertise in mobile games advertising. We launch appiris, a performance-based app distribution platform, to make use of this knowledge and make it accessible for non-gaming verticals.

We hire Peter Grosskopf – founder of Germany’s biggest Ruby agency – as Chief Development Officer. The hire is a step to further increase our strength in technology. Under Peter’s lead we focus on becoming a leading tech employer.

230 employees of 37 nationalities and 8 companies within the HitFox Group. Three years from a failed startup to a strong company builder receiving 1,000 applications every month for our job openings. Today, HitFox is a unique platform for entrepreneurship, committed to the growth of its existing companies and people, while starting 2-4 companies a year and hiring hundreds of new foxes.

Jan Beckers, our CEO and Co-Founder, is elected Germany’s Entrepreneur Of The Year in the category Start-Up and nominated for World Entrepreneur of the Year 2015 in EY’s world-wide renowned competition.

Since June 2014 we have been working on the next big step for HitFox Group: FinLeap. With new technologies and scalable business models FinLeap will provide cheaper, simpler and more transparent digital services within the FinTech market. Over the next year, FinLeap will launch 4-6 new companies, and hire up to 150 new employees.