Bonial, the Berlin digital retail marketing company owned by Axel Springer, announced on October 12, 2026 that it had acquired a majority stake in Tjek, a Copenhagen company that runs shopping apps for digital store brochures and offers in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland.
The companies did not disclose the price or the size of the stake Bonial bought. It is a majority takeover rather than a full buyout: Tjek's co-founders Morten Bo and Jack Tolboe keep part of the company as co-owners and remain in their roles as chief executive and chief operating officer.
The deal takes Bonial beyond Germany and France, raising its footprint from two European markets to six. Bonial said the purchase extends what it calls its European Retail Marketing Hub, the umbrella for its reach, technology and services for retailers that advertise their weekly offers online.
What Tjek built
Tjek was founded in 2009. According to the company's own timeline it started in Aalborg, in northern Denmark, and launched its first app, eTilbudsavis, for phones and iPads in 2010. A year later, the company says, eTilbudsavis became the most popular Danish app on iOS and Android. The company is now based in the Christianshavn district of Copenhagen.
The business runs several local consumer brands: eTilbudsavis in Denmark, eTilbudsavis and Mattilbud in Norway, eReklamblad in Sweden and eTarjouslehdet in Finland. The apps collect the digital brochures and special offers of retailers across different segments in one place, and let brands buy targeted campaigns inside them. Tjek also sells a market-insights product to retailers and suppliers.
Bonial and Tjek put the apps' combined audience at 2.5 million monthly users. On its website Tjek tells advertisers that for many shoppers its apps are the last medium they use before buying, and that around 20% of users open the app while in the store. The same site describes a small team; it lists 42 team members in one place and refers to 50 colleagues in another.
“Our purpose is to improve daily life by helping people do their shopping with relevant content from retailers and brands. Joining Bonial Group is the right next step on that journey.”
The founders and the ownership
Morten Bo, named in the announcement as co-founder and CEO, and Jack Tolboe, the COO, are both described in Bonial's English press release as co-founders.
No venture rounds or outside investors for Tjek have been reported. The announcement did not say whether any existing shareholders sold to Bonial, or what percentage of Tjek the founders keep.
Why Bonial is buying
Bonial has been connecting shoppers with local stores for 18 years. In Germany it runs the brochure apps kaufDA and MeinProspekt, and it also operates in France. It says those platforms reach 14 million users a month and that it serves about 1,500 retailers with marketing and drive-to-store services. Adding Tjek's audience takes the group past 16 million monthly users, according to the trade publication ONEtoONE.
Mark Dekan, the Axel Springer executive board member responsible for commerce, presented the deal as an example of how the media group builds its commerce portfolio: by buying local leaders in markets where the strategic case is clear. Bonial is run by two CEOs, Florian Reinartz and Karsten Lehmann. Reinartz pointed to Tjek's local relevance and its team's knowledge of the Nordic markets, while Lehmann said the deal brings more reach and expertise under the Bonial Group umbrella.
For Tjek, Morten Bo said joining Bonial was the next step toward helping retailers get more digital reach for their brochures and offers, both on Tjek's own platforms and beyond them.
What happens to users and retailers
The announcement did not describe any changes to the Tjek apps, their names or how they work for users, and German trade coverage noted that no concrete changes were stated. Because the founders stay on as managers and co-owners, Tjek is set to keep running its Nordic brands locally inside the Bonial group.
For retailers and brands, ONEtoONE reported that Bonial intends to let them run digital brochure and offer campaigns across a larger European platform. Bonial did not say when or how campaigns across the six markets would be sold together.
