- EQT Private Equity and Verdane to sell Forsta, an industry-leading global provider of customer experience and market research technology, to Press Ganey
- Forsta was formed through the merger of Confirmit and FocusVision in March 2021, creating a full-service provider of qualitative and quantitative customer experience solutions
- Under Verdane and EQT Private Equity’s ownership, Forsta has been transformed into a scaled technology platform serving over 5,000 customers in more than 100 countries around the world
EQT and Verdane are pleased to announce that the EQT Mid Market US fund (“EQT Private Equity”), together with the Verdane Capital IX fund (“Verdane”) have agreed to sell Forsta (the “Company”) to Press Ganey, a leader in patient, member, employee and consumer experience across the healthcare ecosystem.
Headquartered in London, U.K., Forsta is a leading provider of customer experience and market research software and services to enterprise customers and market research professionals. Forsta provides solutions in Quantitative (including Surveys & Reporting), Qualitative (including Digital Qual & Live Video, Video Insights), and Voice of the Customer / Voice of the Employee segments, to help deliver intelligence with clarity, confidence, and impact.
The company now known as Forsta was born in 2021 out of a shared thesis at EQT and Verdane of creating an integrated quantitative and qualitative offering for market research agencies and corporate customers. The move was achieved by combining Verdane-owned Confirmit, which Verdane merged with its portfolio company Dapresy in 2020, with FocusVision, acquired by EQT Private Equity in 2015.
The combination doubled the size of the business to create scale for increased investment in product development and go-to-market, while further shifting the business mix towards software. The combined company was subsequently rebranded as “Forsta” to unify the brand strategy and create an integrated go-to-market approach, focused on delivering holistic human insights.
Hajo Krösche, Managing Director within EQT Private Equity’s Advisory Team, said, “Our investments in Forsta’s digital backbone and people have resulted in a compelling technology offering and a track record in human experience solutions, which will serve as invaluable assets to the combined platform going forward. We are excited to have found a long-term home for Forsta in Press Ganey, a company and team with whom we have had a strong relationship for many years.”
Pål Malmros, Partner at Verdane, said, “Forsta will now make the next generation of patient and customer experience better and truly human-focused through its world-leading customer experience and market research technology, allowing Press Ganey to make a quantum leap in its ‘experience of care’ technology solution. Press Ganey’s relationship to Forsta dates back to the Confirmit years, and this event marks the culmination of a growth journey the Verdane team originally set out on in 2017 through our investment in Dapresy. We want to thank the Forsta and EQT teams for an excellent partnership that we now look forward to continuing with Press Ganey.”
Kyle Ferguson, CEO of Forsta, said, “With the critical support of EQT and Verdane, we have created and scaled a comprehensive platform for human experience insights. We look forward to partnering with Press Ganey and to leveraging our world class technology and expertise to accelerate growth across the combined business.”
The transaction is subject to customary conditions and approvals, and is expected to close in H1 2022.
Jefferies acted as financial advisor and Sidley Austin LLP acted as legal advisor to Verdane, EQT Private Equity and Forsta.
Contact for EQT
US media inquiries: mathilde.milch@eqtpartners.com, +1 (917) 510-6626
European media inquiries: press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334
Contact for Verdane
Verdane press office: press@verdane.com, +46 76 27 28 100
About EQT
EQT is a purpose-driven global investment organization with more than EUR 73.4 billion in assets under management across 28 active funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas with total sales of approximately EUR 29 billion and more than 175,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.
More info: www.eqtgroup.com
Follow EQT on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram
About Verdane
Verdane is a specialist growth equity investment firm that partners with tech-enabled and sustainable European businesses to help them reach the next stage of international growth. Verdane can invest as a minority or majority investor, either in single companies or through portfolios of companies, and looks to deploy behind three core themes; the Digital Consumer, Software Everywhere and Sustainable Society. Verdane funds hold €3.6bn in total commitments and have made over 135 investments in fast-growing businesses since 2003. Verdane’s team of 100 investment professionals and operating experts, based out of Berlin, Copenhagen, Helsinki, London, Oslo and Stockholm, is dedicated to being the preferred growth partner to tech-enabled and sustainable businesses in Europe.
More info: www.verdane.com
Follow Verdane on LinkedIn
About Forsta
Forsta is an Experience and Research Technology Platform that gathers and analyzes data, and translates the findings into shareable actions to inform decision making and drive growth. Forsta’s technology is designed to discover, analyze and share smart insights packed with real action potential, and help organizations better understand the full Human Experiences of their audiences.
More info: www.forsta.com
