Proprietary sourcing, fast execution.
Returns are decided first at the point of purchase. Breakwater combines direct acquisition, off-market deals and a partner network with a systematic pre-audit and a six-step process led by operators.
Returns are made at entry.
In the online store market, sellers are many and structured buyers are few. Founders sell to retire, to move on to a new project or for lack of time. Few buyers can close quickly and take over operations the next day.
This makes it possible to buy profitable stores at a price their profits repay in about three years. But the right deals still have to be seen, the wrong ones ruled out, and the transaction closed ahead of others. That is the role of sourcing and audit.
This work does not stop after the first acquisitions. Throughout the life of the fund, the team continuously reviews new deals, pre-audits some of them, fully audits a smaller number and acquires only a minority. Behind every store bought, many deals have been studied and set aside.
Three sources of deal flow.
E-commerce founders and executives, reached through TakeMyShop and its management team's background. Deals are often presented before they reach the market.
Direct approach to sellers and off-market deals, complemented by a network of partners specialising in the sale of e-commerce sites. For the creation pocket, stores are built with lucrazia.com.
A network of approved brokers giving access to deals ahead of the market, already pre-qualified.
Many deals, few acquisitions.
At each stage, some deals are ruled out. Only those meeting every investment criterion go on to acquisition.
Indicative volumes are provided in the data room.
The TakeMyShop pre-audit.
Before entering the process, every opportunity goes through a pre-audit led by TakeMyShop. It covers the store's metrics, its traffic and its profitability.
This first filter draws on the experience of more than one hundred stores already under management. It benchmarks each deal against concrete references and rules out weak ones early, before time and audit costs are committed.
Benchmark data from TheLab complements this review, placing each store against comparable stores in its sector.
- —Business metrics
- —Traffic and visitor sources
- —Actual profitability
Five strands, one file.
The business audit brings five reviews together in a single file, on which the investment decision rests.
Several years of accounts, reconciliation with cash receipts and payment-platform statements, adjustment for non-recurring items, working capital needs.
Split by channel, acquisition cost, conversion rate, share of repeat customers, seasonality. The aim: to check that sales do not depend on a single fragile lever.
Rankings, visibility history, technical quality, content and inbound links. Healthy SEO is a durable asset; artificial SEO is a warning sign.
Identity and reliability of suppliers, terms, lead times, concentration, product quality and returns. Taking over supplier relationships is prepared before closing.
Domain name, brand, content, contracts, terms and conditions, customer data, any disputes. The sale documentation sets out the seller's warranties.
What we check, in practice.
What we check, in practice.
Why sellers choose us.
No leverage and no bank financing: execution is faster and more certain for the seller.
One team, one decision. The seller does not depend on a committee with many stakeholders.
An operator-to-operator dialogue. The team speaks the language of founders selling their store.
TakeMyShop takes over operations from the sale. The seller knows the store will keep running.
Six steps, from first contact to takeover.
Identifying deals: network, direct approach, off-market deals, partners and brokers.
Review of metrics, traffic and profitability by TakeMyShop.
Financial, traffic, SEO, supplier and legal due diligence by operators and e-commerce experts.
Letter of intent, negotiation of price and terms.
Legal and financial completion, payment in cash.
Operational takeover by TakeMyShop and integration into the portfolio.
A structured timeline, step by step.
Indicative duration of each step, once a deal has been sourced.
Indicative durations; every deal has its own timeline.
Ten years of sourcing, audit and acquisition.
Building and maintaining a portfolio of stores is continuous work that engages the team throughout the life of the fund.
Deals come in every week through the network, direct approach, partners and brokers. Each one is logged, qualified and compared with the fund's criteria.
The pre-audit quickly rules out fragile deals. The full audit, longer and more costly, is reserved for those with a real chance of closing.
Acquisitions are spread over time, at the pace of opportunities that meet every criterion. The fund does not force deployment.
In parallel, Lucrazia launches new niche stores, and each existing store is reviewed against its results.
Every store held is monitored monthly. Findings feed the half-yearly report and, where needed, review decisions.
Reducing risk before buying.
Revenue, gross margin, profitability, stability and payback in about three years: a deal that does not meet every criterion does not proceed to acquisition.
Operators and the panel of advisors examine every deal. Audit findings are formalised before any firm offer.
The sale documentation covers the seller's representations, the transfer of assets and support during the transition.
Operators, not passing financiers.
Audits are led by people who have run stores and know what breaks, what holds and what grows.
They judge the strength of a business from their own experience of growth, not from a single financial table.
They examine acquisition, SEO, logistics and suppliers, where an online store's performance and durability are decided.
E-commerce executives and M&A experts complete the analysis of each deal before the investment decision.
Audits are led by operators — executives who have scaled businesses and e-commerce experts — not by finance profiles new to the sector.
What the fund buys, and how it runs it.
Discover the profile of the established stores in the core pocket, and TakeMyShop's daily work after the takeover.
An audit reduces risk without eliminating it: some issues may go undetected before the acquisition. The durations shown are indicative. Nothing here constitutes investment advice or an offer. Risk of total or partial loss of capital.