CVC's minority stake in CDN77 values Czech infrastructure firm at $1.9B
What's the deal? CVC Capital PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has agreed to acquire a minority stake in CDN77, an engineering-led internet infrastructure company, through its long-duration Strategic Opportunities platform. The companies did not disclose the size of the stake, but a source familiar with the matter told Reuters the deal values CDN77 at around $1.9 billion (€1.7 billion) — which CVC called the largest private equity deal in Central and Eastern Europe's tech sector this year. Founder Zdeněk Cendra, who started the business in 2011, keeps a majority stake and stays on as chief executive officer.
What's the endgame? CDN77 builds and runs its own network, hardware and software, serving clients including video-on-demand platform Rakuten TV, "Peaky Blinders" producer Banijay, online education group Udemy and streaming service Starz. It has grown to a global edge network of more than 230 locations and 330 terabits per second of capacity.
Why now? CDN77 is targeting revenue of about $270 million this year, up from $218 million in 2025 — implying the new valuation prices the bootstrapped company at roughly seven times sales. Content delivery remains the core, but CDN77 plans to scale the broader services around it: storage, edge compute and dedicated CPU/GPU infrastructure for AI workloads. The company says CVC gives it the confidence to move faster on those opportunities.
What changes for customers? Little, according to the company. Most of CDN77's senior team, in place since founding, will stay, preserving what Cendra called a culture built by "picking up the phone when a customer calls" and "letting engineers make engineering decisions."
Jakub Canda of CVC said CDN77 is "truly one of a kind," describing its core asset as "not the 230+ locations around the world but its people and unique culture."
What could go wrong? Completion depends on customary regulatory approvals. Scaling into capital-heavy AI and GPU infrastructure also pits CDN77 against far larger cloud and hyperscale rivals.
The signal: The deal reflects rising investor appetite for the physical backbone behind AI and streaming — the networks, storage and compute that power demanding online platforms. By taking a minority position and leaving control with the founder, CVC bets on capacity growth without disrupting the culture that built it.
Read more: cvc.com
Image credit: NeoSpire
