Tag Archives: Information technology

Paddle raises $200m to supercharge SaaS companies’ global growth

KKR
  • The investment, at a valuation of $1.4bn, follows a period of rapid growth for the payments infrastructure company
  • The round is led by KKR with participation from existing investors FTV Capital, 83North, Notion Capital, Kindred Capital, with additional financing from Silicon Valley Bank 
  • Founded in the UK, Paddle will use the investment to accelerate its global expansion amid rapidly growing demand from scaling Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies

London, Tuesday 10th May: Paddle, the provider of a complete payments infrastructure for SaaS companies, today announces it has raised $200m in Series D equity and debt financing at a valuation of $1.4bn, making it the UK’s latest unicorn. Led by KKR, a leading global investment firm, with participation from existing investors FTV Capital, 83North, Notion Capital, Kindred Capital, and debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank, the investment brings the total Paddle has raised to date to $293m.

Paddle will use this investment to strengthen the growth of its platform and to meet the market opportunity that exists for a complete payment infrastructure provider for software companies globally, which will assist in enabling them to scale and sell their products faster, with less risk and lower costs.

SaaS companies are experiencing a period of sustained growth, a trend that was accelerated by the surge in digital transformation during the Covid-19 pandemic and is set to continue as businesses and consumers become ever more used to using digital tools like Zoom to communicate, Miro to collaborate, or Canva to create. The SaaS sector, which was worth $397 billion in 2021, is expected to grow to $692 billion in 2025.*

SaaS companies now have an incredible opportunity to compete and sell their products in any market in the world, but to do so they must also manage payments and operations across multiple geographies and navigate an increasingly complex web of local and international tax and data regulations.

By integrating checkout, payment, subscription management, invoicing, international taxes and financial compliance processes, Paddle offers SaaS companies a completely different approach to payments infrastructure. Instead of assembling and maintaining a complex stack of payments-related apps and services, Paddle acts as a merchant of record for its customers. This enables sellers to activate new business models and enter new markets faster, more easily and with fewer operational and compliance issues.

Paddle’s complete payments infrastructure is used by over 3,000 software companies in more than 200 markets worldwide. With a suite of new platform features and integrations – including the announcement of an alternative In-App Purchasing (IAP) system for iOS developers – as well as rapid international expansion, Paddle has more than doubled its revenue growth since November 2020, contributing to an impressive average annual revenue growth of over 175% over the last four years. It has also scaled its team from 140 to 275 across offices in London and New York, with more hires expected to match its acceleration as a business.

Christian Owens, CEO and co-founder of Paddle, said: “The opportunity in software is enormous, with tens of thousands of incredibly innovative businesses bringing great products to market every year. Unfortunately, many SaaS companies still find their growth hindered by the operational challenges that arise when scaling; from handling subscriptions management or tax compliance to localizing payment options in every market. Paddle was created to remove these invisible barriers so that SaaS companies can just focus on building and selling software. 2021 was a fantastic year for us, but we are only just getting started. We have big plans for 2022 and beyond and we’re delighted to have the backing of so many fantastic investors who all share our vision.”

Patrick Devine, Director at KKR, added: “Paddle is solving a significant pain point for thousands of SaaS companies by reducing the friction and costs associated with managing payments infrastructure and tax compliance. By simplifying the payments stack, Paddle enables faster, more sustainable growth for SaaS businesses. Christian and the team have done a phenomenal job building a category-defining business in this space, and we are excited to be supporting them as they embark on the next phase of growth.”

KKR’s investment was made through its growth equity fund, Next Generation Technology Growth Fund II.

About Paddle:
Paddle helps SaaS companies grow faster with fewer distractions. Instead of wasting time, money, and resources assembling, maintaining, securing, and constantly updating a ‘best of breed’ payments stack, Paddle does it all.

Because Paddle is a SaaS merchant of record, it takes away 100% of the payments complexity—handling all payment routing, tax collection, compliance, invoicing, subscription management, renewals, reporting, and fraud protection.

Paddle has 275 employees serving over 3,000 software sellers in 245 countries and territories globally. Backed by investors including KKR, FTV Capital, Kindred, Notion, and 83North, Paddle aims to define the next wave of B2B SaaS leaders. Visit www.paddle.com or www.twitter.com/PaddleHQ for more information.

About KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and supporting growth in its portfolio companies and communities. KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR’s insurance subsidiaries offer retirement, life and reinsurance products under the management of Global Atlantic Financial Group. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds and insurance subsidiaries. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

Press contact:

Paddle
Ed Jones-Davies / Cameron Morrissey
Outcast
paddle@thisisoutcast.com

KKR
Alastair Elwen / Sophia Johnston
Finsbury Glover Hering
+44 20 7251 3801
KKR_LON@finsbury.com

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Coexya, a company supported by Argos Wityu, is to acquire Aquilab.

argos wityu

The acquisition will enable Coexya to strengthen its leadership position in healthcare and more specifically in oncology.

Lyon (France), 25 April 2022 – Coexya, an independent digital leader in consulting, integration and software development, is to acquire Aquilab, a software company specialised in healthcare. The transaction will be a strategic merger of the two companies, enabling them to pursue their development.

Based in northern France, Aquilab has been a recognised software provider in the field of oncology for more than 20 years. Aquilab’s range of software and services improves the quality of treatment:
• Artiscan ensures the quality of imaging and radiotherapy equipment.
• Artiview improves the preparation and evaluation of radiotherapy treatment.
• Onco Place, evaluates and identifies new therapeutic strategies for its 3,300 users through the analysis of its clinical study database.

Both companies are strong in healthcare and oncology data. The merger will take advantage of their complementary nature and enable them to create multi-centric clinical studies. Coexya will use its Consore solution to create cohorts of patients, while Aquilab will use Onco Place to manage clinical studies.

Coexya will be able to share its expertise with Aquilab’s 350 European customers, and Aquilab will be able to accelerate its product development thanks to Coexya’s recognised expertise in data processing and artificial intelligence.

Formerly the French arm of the Sword group, Coexya was acquired by Argos Wityu in 2021, and has since then implemented an acquisition strategy to develop its product division and its international presence.

Healthcare accounts for 15% of Coexya’s activities. The company provides the sector with its OdyCare software and its integration services. Coexya understands the challenges its customers face and supports them in their digital transition. Their appropriate, ergonomic solutions make it easier to offer coordinated care, to guide patients and get more value from its patient data.

Philippe le Calvé, CEO of Coexya, said, “I am particularly pleased that Coexya is acquiring Aquilab, a company active in the healthcare sector. Our customers will be able to take advantage of an expanded range of services in France and abroad. We are delighted to welcome Aquilab’s employees into our group through a transaction that will also enable us to develop in the region of Lille.

David Gibon, Aquilab’s chief executive, said, “For more than 20 years, we have been providing innovative products devoted to improving the quality of cancer treatment. The merger with Coexya will enable us to strengthen our expertise in data and AI so as to step up our development in predictive medicine. Aquilab and Coexya have customers in common and share the same values. By leveraging these synergies, we will be able to propose new solutions and provide better treatment to people suffering from cancer.”

Karel Kroupa, Argos Wityu Managing Partner, added, “The merger between Aquilab and Coexya is right in line with the group’s business development strategy, as employed by Philippe Le Calvé and his team. Coexya will now be able to use the expertise of the two companies to offer complementary services to its customers.”

Argos Wityu team: Karel Kroupa, Simon Guichard, Afif Chebaro

Argos Wityu

Coralie Cornet
Head of Communications
ccc@argos.fund
+33 6 14 38 33 37

Coexya

Carine Groz
Director of Communications
carine.groz@coexya.eu
+33 6 14 01 15 58

About Argos Wityu / www.argos.wityu.fund Argos Wityu is an independent European investment fund that supports companies in the transfer of business ownership. It has assisted more than 80 entrepreneurs, focusing its investment strategy on complex transactions with emphasis on transformation, growth, and close collaboration with management teams. Argos Wityu seeks to acquire majority interests and invest between €10m and €100m with each transaction. With more than €1bn under management and 30 years of experience, Argos Wityu operates from offices in Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, Luxembourg, Milan and Paris.

About Coexya / www.coexya.eu
Coexya has more than 20 years of experience in consulting, integration and software development and is specialised in digital transformation. In 2020, Coexya changed shareholders and with the support of its executives, operational managers and the European investment fund Argos Wityu, became independent of the Sword Group. Coexya’s mission is to support organisations by developing solutions that address the new ways employees and customers use data. Coexya is active in six areas of expertise: customer experience, digital content, health, legal, location intelligence and smart data.
The group serves more than 370 clients and generated turnover of nearly €70m in 2021. Coexya has more than 700 employees based in Brest, Lyon, Paris and Rennes.

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Mendel Raises $40 Million Series B Round to Expand its Team and Grow Product Offering

Dcm Ventures

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Mendel, the leading clinical artificial intelligence and natural language processing platform, today announced it has raised $40 million in Series B funding round led by Oak HC/FT. The round includes participation from existing investor DCM, who led Mendel’s Series A funding round in June 2021.

This funding comes amidst surging customer demand for Mendel’s AI infrastructure. The fresh capital will enable the company to expand its team of AI and engineering teams and scale the commercial organization. It will also help accelerate the release of Mendel’s new, breakthrough product, Resolve, which consolidates clinical information to create a coherent longitudinal view of the patient journey. Traditionally, it takes nearly five years to manually abstract 2 million patient lives. Mendel’s Resolve abstracts the same number in less than 24 hours.

“The capital we have raised is a testament to the strong market fit and demand,” said Karim Galil, Co-Founder and CEO of Mendel. “Our vision it to weave Mendel into the fabric of every healthcare data platform. It’s exciting to partner with Oak HC/FT as we enable the healthcare ecosystem to provide better care for every patient.”

The healthcare industry faces immense challenges in parsing unstructured medical data that is highly valuable, but also extremely difficult and expensive to access. Mendel’s solution unlocks 80% of the world’s clinical data by leveraging contextual understanding to transform unstructured electronic medical record (EMR) data and clinical literature into comprehensive and compliant analytics-ready data. It abstracts data 27,000 times faster than the primarily manual methods most frequently used in clinical settings, and its output is reviewed and validated by a team of clinical experts to guarantee research-grade output.

“We believe Mendel can become a mission-critical infrastructure platform for the healthcare industry,” said Billy Deitch, Partner at Oak HC/FT. “Mendel’s technology sets a new standard in accuracy and scalability for processing unstructured medical data and we are confident that the company will continue to lead the industry with cutting edge solutions [and delivering for their customers].”

“Going as far back as our first investment in 2017, we’ve always known that Mendel’s novel AI technology was going to change the face of healthcare’s information infrastructure,” said Hurst Lin, General Partner at DCM. “We’re proud to continue to support Mendel through its next phase of growth that comes at such a critical time for the entire healthcare industry.”

For more information about Mendel visit Mendel.ai, and to see open positions visit Mendel.ai/careers.

About Mendel
Mendel is a machine that can read and understand medicine. Mendel Health is a for-profit corporation headquartered in San Jose, California that uses novel AI technology to absorb clinical data in medical literature as well as patient health records, to unlock a wide range of Real World Data applications. For more information about Mendel, visit Mendel.ai.

About OAK HC/FT 
Oak HC/FT is a venture and growth equity firm investing in companies driving transformation in healthcare and fintech, two uniquely complementary and high-growth sectors. With deep domain expertise and strategic resources, Oak HC/FT partners with leading entrepreneurs at every stage, from seed to growth, to build businesses that make a measurable, lasting impact on these industries. Founded in 2014, the firm has $3.3 billion in assets under management and is headquartered in Greenwich, CT, with investors in San Francisco and Boston. Follow Oak HC/FT on Twitter and LinkedIn and learn more at oakhcft.com.

About DCM
DCM is a global venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley, Beijing and Tokyo with over $4.2 billion under management and a 25-year track record of top performance. DCM has invested in more than 400 early-stage technology companies globally and provides hands-on operational guidance and a global network of business and financial resources. DCM portfolio companies have an aggregate enterprise value exceeding $250 billion including industry leading companies Bill.com, Careem (UBER), Hims & Hers, Kuaishou, Musically (TikTok) and SoFi. For more information, visit https://www.dcm.com.

Media Contact:
Amalia Lytle
646-818-9271

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Partners Group to acquire Version 1, a leading digital transformation services provider in the UK and Ireland

Partners Group
  • Version 1 has around 450 clients across the private and public sector
  • The digital transformation services sector is experiencing strong tailwinds
  • Partners Group plans to work with Version 1’s best-in-class management team to support its accelerated growth journey and further internationalization

Partners Group, a leading global private markets firm, has, on behalf of its clients, agreed to acquire Version 1 (or “the Company”), one of the leading digital transformation services providers in the UK and Ireland, from Volpi Capital and management.

Headquartered in Dublin, Version 1 works with private and public sector clients on complex digital transformation programs. The Company’s services include application modernization, cloud migration services, and cloud-native software engineering, which involves the development of applications in the cloud. Version 1 has approximately 450 clients, including blue-chip companies and central government departments, and 2,100 employees across offices in Ireland, the UK, India, and Spain. In the last ten years, the Company has successfully integrated 13 add-on acquisitions that have expanded its service portfolio and geographic coverage. The digital transformation services sector is experiencing strong tailwinds including increasing company investment in new digital initiatives and solutions and the growing need to migrate technology infrastructure to the cloud.

Partners Group will work with Version 1’s management team in its next phase of growth as a leading digital transformation specialist. Partners Group’s value creation plan aims to achieve double-digit growth by developing the Company’s service offering and technical depth, building its international presence, and pursuing accretive M&A.

Kim Nguyen, Partner, Co-Head Private Equity Services, Partners Group, says: “We have been tracking Version 1 through our thematic focus on digital transformation. Based on our investment and value creation track record related to this theme, we value Version 1’s strong leadership team, differentiated offering, and operations which are reflected by excellent customer and employee satisfaction scores, and impressive organic growth. The Company is well-positioned to capitalize on the tailwinds driving increased digitization across both the private and public sector and we have conviction in its growth prospects. We look forward to working with Version 1’s ambitious management team on our value creation plan.”

Tom O’Connor, Chief Executive Officer, Version 1, comments: “We are extremely pleased to have secured Partners Group as our new partner and majority shareholder. Throughout our process, the firm’s core values, track record and ambition best matched those of Version 1. Partners Group’s sectoral knowledge and international reach will be as important to Version 1 as their investment and endorsement of our growth strategy. We are also pleased for our customers and staff who will benefit as we continue to grow and add more great people to the Version 1 team.”

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Beamy raises US$9 million to govern the explosion of Saas in companies

Beamy, a European pioneer in SaaS management for large companies, has raised more than 9 million dollars in Series A funding. This funding round was led by the ISAI, Aglaé Venturesand Evolem funds, as well as business angels Nicolas Hernandez (360 Learning) and Erwan Keraudy (CybelAngel). The solution has already attracted notable customers including LVMH, Decathlon, Orange, Engie and BNP Paribas to provide a framework for governing the decentralisation and implementation of their SaaS tools across their businesses.

Becoming aware of the explosion of SaaS in business is vital.

Beamy, a scale-up featured in “Future 40” of STATION F, offers companies a unique solution that can detect and control the explosion of SaaS applications used in a decentralised way. The platform thus helps CIOs and other IT leaders to control this parallel IT/digitalisation and strengthen their employees’ technological autonomy while preserving corporate governance.

The days of cumbersome and complex software suites being solely implemented and managed by IT departments are over. For years, SaaS has been exploding uncontrollably in large companies, creating underground digitalization.

In companies with more than 1,000 employees, there are on average several hundred different SaaS solutions in use, representing several million dollars in annual costs. According to a recent study by KPMG, the SaaS budget of companies is set to increase by 90% in the next 10 years, covering several thousand different solutions. A new IT paradigm is emerging.

However, this massive adoption of SaaS is largely outside of the IT department’s control, which leads to a considerable underestimation of the real volume of SaaS applications already used by the business lines. Consequently, these companies become highly vulnerable to the risks of cyber attacks: each uncontrolled SaaS application represents a potential security breach. Finally, SaaS budgets, representing an ever-increasing share of corporate IT, are largely under-optimized. Many SaaS solutions cover the same uses and are thus redundant, while others are underused or even completely unused.

“In general, when we meet a CIO of a large company, they estimate that their organization uses 30 to 40 SaaS tools. However, when we begin working together, our technology detects several hundred active SaaS solutions, often revealing more than 75% of shadow IT,” explains Beamy CEO and co-founder Andréa Jacquemin.

The need to build a framework of technological autonomy for all professionals

There is a change in the way large enterprises procure, implement, use and manage SaaS software applications. It’s more than just an IT phenomenon – the explosion of SaaS has introduced a real change in business organisation:

“The top down vision of IT is over. We are witnessing a true decentralization of technological ownership and empowerment of business units, which are selecting and implementing their own solution,” explains Andrea Jacquemin.

Accepting this trend means allowing employees who consider technology to be vital to the completion of their activities, to be engaged and become the primary actors in their IT landscapes.

“The decentralisation framework must be compatible with the technological autonomy granted. This is a story of balance. If we put too many constraints on employees’ ability to choose their applications and implement lengthy processes, they will still use the applications but won’t go through the proper channels with IT in the implementation,” explained Andrea Jacquemin. “Without a solid structure of decentralisation, the risks will be considerably increased and the budgets won’t be optimised. In any situation, you have to find the proper balance in terms of autonomy that works for your workforce, but keeping the status quo on this subject is the worst solution.”

For this, Beamy has developed powerful scoring algorithms capable of detecting all of the SaaS applications actually implemented in the company. Beamy is then able to follow the evolution of each application over time, provide employees with a catalog of all applications implemented in the company, define an autonomy matrix according to the potential risks of future applications, and navigate an app store of more than 50,000 applications on the market.

Beamy thus guarantees a global approach to SaaS governance necessary to support large companies in the long term to structure their IT decentralisation and establishing synergy between all stakeholders (CEOs, CIOs/other IT leaders, and business teams).

Beamy wants to accelerate its international expansion

With an impressive end to 2021, this fundraising will allow the company to accelerate its international development (Beamy already being present in France and the United Kingdom on the international market), to create global leadership, and to strengthen customer relations by supporting them in their long-term governance efforts. “We are convinced that SaaS issues are major issues for large companies, whether French or international. With this fundraising from major investors including Agaé Ventures and Isai, both of whom are recognized for offering cutting edge expertise in the tech sector, we are setting out to conquer the international market,” explains Andrea Jacquemin.

To do this, Beamy plans to focus its investments on two major areas: recruitment, with plans to hire 40 more team members in the next twelve months, and product development, with the strengthening of detection technology and decentralisation workflows to further streamline collaboration between IT and business lines in the implementation and management of new SaaS solutions.

“As investors, we are familiar with the SaaS model and the benefits that users and business departments can derive from it. For large companies, mastering this deployment, which is often in the ‘shadows’, represents a real challenge,” said Jean-David Chambordeon, CEO of ISAI. “The vision of Beamy’s founders to identify, rationalize, unify, and allow the security of this B2B SaaS stack within organizations quickly convinced us. The excellent customer feedback we have been able to collect shows that Beamy is in the process of becoming the reference platform in this field.”

“Beamy provides an exhaustive view of SaaS tools and provides a governance platform with a real return on investment,” said Léa Verdillon of Aglaé Ventures. “The great feedback we’ve heard from customers convinced us that Andréa and Edouard formed the right team to develop Beamy. The international ambition that drives them is in perfect harmony with the fast-growing market, particularly in the United States, which is one of our areas of investment.”

Press contact
beamy@lagencerp.com
Lucille Lavigne – 06 98 62 07 92
Mélina Dahmane – 06 58 94 47 82

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Technology & Strategy merges Intys Partners and pursues further growth, with support of Ardian

Ardian

Technology & Strategy (T&S), the European specialist in technology consulting, announces that it has merged Intys Partners, one of the leading Belgian consulting firms in operations management and digital transformation, formerly held by Omnes.

With the support of Ardian’s Expansion team, T&S is positioned at the forefront of the European consulting and engineering industry.

Founded in 2008, T&S has established itself as a specialist in engineering, digital and project management consulting, with recognized expertise in embedded systems. The company has experienced very strong growth of more than 20% every year, both organically and externally. The merger with Intys Partners, a European firm recognized as a major partner in management consulting with more than 450 employees, is a new step for T&S in its “scale up 2024” plan. It aims to create a one-stop-shop for clients to access the best combination of specialists for their technological transformation.

The combined group will count more than 2,400 employees and show strong expertise, sector and geographic complementarities.

It is now a leading consulting firm, offering expertise in three primary areas: engineering consulting, digital consulting, and operational performance consulting. The geographical footprint is strongly reinforced in the Benelux and now extends from Europe (France, Switzerland, Germany, Benelux) to Asia (Hong Kong, Singapore).

As a multi-specialist player in high-growth niche markets, the merger with Intys Partners will enable the group to strengthen its sector expertise in Healthcare, which now represents 13% of combined revenues.

Attracting new talent – an essential pillar to the Group’s strategy – will be strengthened by offering opportunities for career growth and opportunities to work abroad.

Globally, new synergies resulting from the integration of Intys Partners will enable T&S group to develop around strong brands which are better able to serve clients.

“Intys is above all a meeting with a manager and a company with a similar history to the one of T&S. The strong complementarity of our offers, our businesses and above all of our people will enable us to achieve our common ambition of going further, stronger, together. ” Jérémie Huss, Co-Founder and CEO of T&S Group

“Recently, one of our major clients told me: “Intys, we greatly appreciate your ability to understand our business, but also the innovative way you look at our projects. The question I want to ask you is, when will you be ready to deliver the same level of quality not only in Belgium, but also further abroad?” Today, with this merger, I am convinced that we are ready. “ Philippe Metz, CEO of Intys

“Supporting high-growth, ambitious companies looking to expand outside their home market is at the heart of our investment philosophy. We are pleased to support the management of T&S in this new stage of development, which confirms the group’s abilitý to continue its growth while participating in the consolidation of the sector.” Marie Arnaud-Battandier, Managing Director Ardian Expansion

List of Participants

  • Technology & Strategy:

    • Jérémie Huss, Fabrice Tricaud

  • Intys Partners:

    • Philippe Metz, Michel Van Hemele, Katrien De Both

  • Ardian Expansion:

    • Marie Arnaud-Battandier, Arthur de Salins, Thomas Grétéré

  • Buyer Legal advisors:

    • CMS (Arnaud Van Oekel, David Prync, Candice Kunkera)

  • Tax structuring:

    • CMS (Olivier Querinjean), Delaby & Dorison (Emmanuel Delaby, Florian Tumoine, Guillaume Lacombe)

  • Buyer financing advisors:

    • Latham & Watkins (Michel Houdayer, Aurélie Buchinet, Matthieu Herviaux)

  • Buyer M&A advisors:

    • Houlihan Lokey (Sara Napolitano, Gary Kurtz, Zaid Lahsiba)

  • Commercial Due Diligence:

    • Roland Berger (Grégoire Tondreau, Benjamin Verhelst)

  • Financial Due Diligence:

    • 8 Advisory (Philippe Fimmers, Margot De Vylder, Florent Garnier, Pierre-David Forterre, Alain Kabera)

  • Legal, Tax and Social Due Diligence:

    • CMS (Arnaud Van Oekel, Benoit Gomel, David Prync, Candice Kunkera)

  • Omnes :

    • Stéphane Roussilhe, Jess Wizman, Céleste Lauriot Dit Prevost

  • Seller Legal advisors :

    • Hoche Avocats (Grine Lahreche, Sophie Millet)

  • Management Legal advisors:

    • Liedekerke (Damien Conem, Charline Cogels)

ABOUT TECHNOLOGY & STRATEGY

Technology & Strategy is a company created in 2008. Specialized in Engineering, IT, Digital and Project Management, T&S supports its customers on innovative development projects. T&S also has an integrated design office to meet the requirements of the market.
Human oriented, and definitely focused on excellence, T&S is a company that shares its expertise with a constant concern for transparency. Technology & Strategy has been able to build trusting relationships with major clients in the industrial, automotive and financial sectors.
International, with a Franco-German DNA, T&S defends an entrepreneurial model supported by its 2000 employees, composed of 30 nationalities spread over 16 agencies and 7 countries (France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong).

www.technologyandstrategy.group

ABOUT INTYS PARTNERS

Created in 2007, Intys now has more than 450 employees in 3 countries, with a strong base in Belgium. The company is recognized as a major consulting partner, particularly in the support and operationalization of strategies.
Its activities are structured around business expertise through 6 brands. Intys Consulting, Intys FSA and Univers Retail in Management Consulting, and Intys Data, Agir, and Vadis Technologies in Technology Consulting. This organization allows the development of an in-depth knowledge of both the sectors and the businesses of its clients, but also the sharing of best practices in terms of strategy execution.
Its ambition is to be a partner of choice for its customers and employees, to maintain its level of operational excellence, but also to have a stronger European footprint, even on other continents.

www.intyspartners.eu

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian is one of the world’s leading private equity firms with $125 billion under management and/or advisory in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The company, majority owned by its employees, has always placed entrepreneurship at the heart of its approach and offers its international investors top-tier performance.
Through its commitment to sharing the value created with all stakeholders, Ardian contributes to the growth of companies and economies around the world.
Building on its values of excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship, Ardian has an international network of over 850 employees in 15 offices in Europe (Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), North America (New York, San Francisco), South America (Santiago) and Asia (Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul). The firm manages funds for 1,200 clients through its five investment pillars: Fund of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.

www.ardian.com

Media Contacts

TECHNOLOGY & STRATEGY

Mickael Brandstetter

m.brandstetter@technologyandstrategy.com  

INTYS PARTNERS

Philippe Metz

philippe.metz@intys.eu  

ARDIAN

HEADLAND

ardian@headlandconsultancy.com

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Sitevision to join forces with IK Partners

IK Partners

IK Partners (“IK”) is pleased to announce that the IK Small Cap III Fund has reached an agreement to invest in Sitevision AB (“Sitevision” or “the Company”), a leading Swedish content management system (“CMS”) and intranet solution provider. IK is investing from its dedicated pool of Development Capital and is acquiring its stake from the founders Anders Korsvall, Karl Eklöf, and Niclas Hedlund, all of whom will be reinvesting alongside IK and will remain majority owners. Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

Sitevision is a rapidly growing and well-renowned CMS and intranet solutions platform, with a market-leading position in Sweden and a growing presence in Norway, among public institutions and mid-to-large corporate clients. The Company offers a single unified platform for both CMS and intranet solutions, allowing clients to manage content, publish information and interact with customers and employees in a flexible and accessible environment.

Sitevision was founded in 2002 in Örebro where its headquarters remain. Today, the Company has grown into one of the leading CMS and intranet providers in Sweden and has local sales presence in Stockholm, Gothenburg and more recently Oslo, as part of its strategic expansion into Norway.

Over the last 20 years, Sitevision has successfully developed and refined its proposition to meet the changing needs of its customers with regards to their external communications, as well as internally towards their employees, against the backdrop of an ever-evolving modern workplace. The core cloud-based CMS and intranet products are easy to integrate and operate with a range of customisable features which allow clients to tailor the system to their specific needs. Sitevision is in the remarkable position of having achieved Sweden’s highest customer satisfaction score for the 13th year in a row for both its CMS platform and intranet solution, according to the “Web Services Award” report.

IK will be partnering with the co-founders to continue investing in the Company’s technological platform, further strengthen its position among public and private customers in Sweden and drive international expansion in the Nordics and beyond. In addition, IK’s Operations team will support Sitevision in further developing its business operations.

Carl Jakobsson, Director at IK and Advisor to the IK funds, said: “Sitevision is a highly impressive outfit operating in an exciting and growing market space that has been subject to rapidly changing dynamics over the past few years. As organisations consciously adapt to new ways of working, the ability to interact with customers and employees efficiently has never been more critical. Anders and his team have built an outstanding reputation in
Sweden as a provider of a secure, user-friendly, yet highly capable product offering. We look forward to working with them to further grow their offering and expand into neighbouring markets.”

Anders Korsvall, CEO of Sitevision, said: “After twenty years of developing our unique proposition, we are delighted to welcome the IK team as our new partner and a specialist in developing and internationalising high-potential tech-enabled business services companies. Their core values align with ours and just as we prefer to be situated close to our customers, IK’s local presence in Sweden, combined with its international platform and long track record of supporting companies of our size and position, was hugely important to us in selecting this promising partnership. We cannot wait to get started with the team and work together on our ambitious growth plans to continue being the platform of choice and fulfil our brand promise of ‘Tell your world’.

For further questions, please contact:
IK Partners
Vidya Verlkumar
Phone: +44 (0) 7787 558 193
vidya.verlkumar@ikpartners.com

About IK Partners

IK Partners (“IK”) is a European private equity firm focused on investments in the Benelux, DACH, France, Nordics and the UK. Since 1989, IK has raised more than €14 billion of capital and invested in over 160 European companies. IK supports companies with strong underlying potential, partnering with management teams and investors to create robust, well-positioned businesses with excellent long-term prospects. For more information, visit www.ikpartners.com

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About Sitevision

Sitevision AB is a leading Swedish provider of CMS and Intranet solutions. The headquarters are located in Örebro with sales offices in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Oslo, serving customers all over Sweden and internationally. For more information visit: www.sitevision.se

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ISAI expansion and Keensight Capital sell their stake in Theodo

Isai

ISAI Expansion, the ISAI platform’s Tech Growth and Growth Buyout fund and Keensight Capital, one of the leading private equity managers dedicated to pan-European growth buyout investments, announced today their successful exit from M33, the holding company of the Theodo Group (“the Group”). Theodo’s two founding directors, Benoît Charles-Lavauzelle and Fabrice Bernhard, will be increasing their stake in the Group.

Launched in 2009, the Theodo Group and its 10 specialized enterprises support their clients in their digital transformation using the best technologies and a methodology inspired by lean and agile. Combining speed with high quality, the Group supports large international groups such as Total, Carrefour and BNP Paribas, as well as prestigious, fast-growing enterprises such as Qonto, Cajoo, Made.com and sunday.

Through the active support of its shareholders, the Group has achieved considerable success in recent years, marked by substantial growth, international expansion, team development and the creation of new expertise through internal projects and external growth.

Since the investment of Keensight Capital and ISAI Expansion in March 2018, the Group’s turnover has grown by an average of 30% per year, reaching €64 million in 2021.

In recent years, the Group has developed new expertise with the launch of subsidiaries specialized in Cloud solutions. This includes Padok in 2018, and in 2021, eHealth with Hokla and in Serverless with Aleios. These enterprises complement the Group’s expertise in: web development through Theodo, Theodo UK and Theodo US; mobile through BAM; data and AI through Sicara; and fintech through Sipios.

The Group now benefits from a strong service offering across 10 verticals based in Paris, London, and New York, as well as in Morocco where the Group acquired in 2019 Nimble Ways, a digital solutions and artificial intelligence consulting company. Spanning across three continents, the Group has also expanded locally with the opening of two new offices in Lyon and Nantes in 2021.

Benoît Charles-Lavauzelle and Fabrice Bernhard, Founders and Managing Directors of the Group, said: “We have been fortunate in recent years to have worked with such exceptional partners as Keensight Capital and ISAI. Their involvement and experience have allowed us to achieve our ambitious objectives in terms of growth, expansion in France and abroad, strengthening our team and attracting talent.”

Philippe Crochet, Managing Partner at Keensight Capital, added: “We are delighted to have been able to support Benoît and Fabrice at an important stage in their Group’s development. Thanks to a differentiated service offering with cutting edge technology, an ability to attract new highly qualified talent and – above all – thanks to its two visionary leaders, the Theodo Group is a success and has a very bright future. The Keensight Capital team is proud to have contributed its expertise in the tech sector and its experience in profitable growth strategies.”

Pierre Martini, Managing Partner at ISAI and Head of the Expansion Funds, concluded: “We are very proud of how far we have come working with Benoît and Fabrice. The Group has succeeded in maintaining its DNA and unique values, while simultaneously scaling up considerably. It has continued to attract the talent that will enable it to continue its exceptional growth trajectory in an ever more dynamic market.

About the Theodo Group
The Theodo Group is a consulting and implementation firm in digital technologies. With over 500 employees in Paris, Nantes, Lyon, London, New York and Casablanca, the Theodo Group supports large groups such as BNP Paribas, Carrefour and LVMH, as well as established enterprises such as Qonto, Cajoo and MADE.com.
Founded in 2009 by Benoît Charles-Lavauzelle and Fabrice Bernhard, the Theodo Group today brings together 10 enterprises that all work on creating digital solutions for businesses: Theodo, Theodo UK and Theodo US, Nimble Ways in Morocco for web development, BAM for mobile, Sicara for Big Data and AI, Sipios for fintech, Padok for DevOps, Hokla for health tech and Aleios for Serverless. In 2021, the Theodo Group achieved €64 million in revenue, 50 times more than in 2012.
https://www.m33.tech/ https://www.theodo.fr

Press contacts:
Theodo Group Agathe Lélu – agathel@theodo.fr – + 336 84 15 35 58
Sources Chloé Rossignol – chloe@sources.agency – +336 23 08 11 90

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Zuora Announces $400 Million Strategic Investment from Silver Lake to Accelerate Growth and Extend Leadership in the Subscription Economy

Redwood City, CA – March 2, 2022 – Zuora, Inc. (NYSE: ZUO), the leading cloud-based subscription management platform provider, today announced a $400 million strategic investment from Silver Lake, a global leader in technology investing. The partnership reinforces Zuora’s leadership position and will empower Zuora to accelerate growth, including potential targeted acquisitions to expand its quote-to-revenue product portfolio.

“This investment is a validation of the undeniable momentum in the Subscription Economy,” said Tien Tzuo, Founder and CEO at Zuora. “As the market expands, companies are turning to us to assist them to monetize new services, and this partnership will help increase our ability to deliver on this large opportunity.”

Zuora’s Subscription Economy Index™ (SEI) shows that subscription businesses continue to outpace S&P 500 growth rates, achieving 4.6x faster growth1 over the past decade. Across industries, from SaaS disruptors, to established manufacturing incumbents, to digital media brands, companies are recognizing the power and resilience of these new business models.

“Zuora continues to demonstrate it is the clear leader and partner of choice for companies that participate in the vast and growing Subscription Economy,” said Joe Osnoss, Managing Partner at Silver Lake. “New industries continue to join and pursue these new business models. We look forward to helping Zuora accelerate the company’s strategy for the benefit of all stakeholders.”

Upon closing of the Silver Lake investment, Mr. Osnoss will join Zuora’s Board of Directors, bringing extensive strategic business experience.

Under the terms of the agreement, upon the initial closing on or about March 24, 2022, Silver Lake will purchase $250 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior unsecured notes due 2029, with an initial conversion price of $20.00 per share, subject to customary closing conditions. The notes will bear interest at a rate 3.95% per annum, payable quarterly in cash, provided that Zuora may elect to pay interest in kind at 5.50% per annum payable quarterly. The remaining $150 million is expected to close at a later date within 18 months of the initial closing. Zuora has also agreed to issue Silver Lake warrants to purchase up to 7,500,000 shares of Class A Common Stock, exercisable for a period of seven years, and of which (i) 2,500,000 shares shall be exercisable at $20.00 per share, (ii) 2,500,000 shares shall be exercisable at $22.00 per share and (iii) 2,500,000 shares shall be exercisable at $24.00 per share. Additional information may be found in a Form 8-K that will be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

This investment comes at a time when Zuora’s growth is accelerating. Today, Zuora reported ARR growth of 20% year-over-year, up from 12% a year ago, and a Dollar Based Retention Rate of 110% for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2022 up from 100% a year ago.

Foros is serving as financial advisor to Zuora and Fenwick & West LLP is serving as Zuora’s legal advisor. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is serving as Silver Lake’s legal advisor.

 

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1 “The Subscription Economy Index Report,” Zuora, February 2022

 

Director Biography

 

Joseph Osnoss is a Managing Partner of Silver Lake, which he joined in 2002. From 2010 to 2014, he was based in London, where he co-led the firm’s activities in EMEA. Prior to joining Silver Lake, Mr. Osnoss worked in investment banking at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Mr. Osnoss is currently a member of the board of directors of Carta, Cegid Group, Clubessential Holdings, EverCommerce Inc., where he serves on the compensation committee, First Advantage Corporation, where he is Chairman of the Board and serves on the nominating and corporate governance committee, Global Blue Group Holding AG, where he serves on the nomination and compensation committee, LightBox, and Relativity. He previously served as Chairman of the Board of Cast & Crew Entertainment Services, and as a board director of Instinet Inc., Interactive Data Corporation, Mercury Payment Systems, and Virtu Financial Inc. Additionally, Mr. Osnoss served on the board of directors of Cornerstone OnDemand, Inc. from December 2017 to October 2021, where he served on its nominating and corporate governance committee from January 2018 to October 2021. Mr. Osnoss also served on the board of directors of Sabre Corporation from March 2007 to April 2021 and served on its audit, compensation, and governance and nominating committees, amongst others, during his directorship. Mr. Osnoss received his A.B., summa cum laude, in Applied Mathematics and a citation in French Language from Harvard College. He has remained involved in academics, including as a Visiting Professor in Practice at the London School of Economics; a member of the Dean’s Advisory Cabinet at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; a participant in The Polsky Center Private Equity Council at the University of Chicago; and a Trustee of Greenwich Academy.

About Silver Lake

Silver Lake is a leading global technology investment firm, with more than USD $90 billion in combined assets under management and committed capital and a team of professionals based in North America, Europe, and Asia. Silver Lake’s portfolio companies collectively generate more than USD $227 billion of revenue annually and employ more than 567,000 people globally. For more information about Silver Lake and its portfolio, please visit Silver Lake’s website at silverlake.com.

About Zuora, Inc.

Zuora provides the leading cloud-based subscription management platform that functions as a system of record for subscription businesses across all industries. Powering the Subscription Economy®, the Zuora platform was architected specifically for dynamic, recurring subscription business models and acts as an intelligent subscription management hub that automates and orchestrates the entire subscription order-to-revenue process across billing, collections and revenue recognition. Zuora serves more than 1,000 companies around the world, including Box, Ford, Penske Media Corporation, Schneider Electric, Siemens, Xplornet and Zoom. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Zuora also operates offices around the world in the U.S., EMEA and APAC. To learn more about the Zuora platform, please visit www.zuora.com.

 

© 2022 Zuora, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Zuora, Subscribed, Subscription Economy, Powering the Subscription Economy, and Subscription Economy Index are trademarks or registered trademarks of Zuora, Inc. Third party trademarks mentioned above are owned by their respective companies.

 

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding Zuora’s business strategy, plans, and objectives for future operations; the investment by Silver Lake, and the use of proceeds and benefits thereof; the expected election of a director; statements regarding the expected growth and trends of subscription-based companies (including companies in the SEI report) and non-subscription based companies; Zuora’s market opportunity, including trends in the pace of the subscription economy; the market for subscription-related products and trends in this market, future growth and related targets; expectations for our industry and business, such as our business model, demand for our products, and expected benefits and scale of our products; and expectations regarding the expansion of our product portfolio, including through acquisitions. There are a significant number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from statements made in this press release, including: risks associated with Zuora’s strategies, priorities, or plans taking longer to execute than anticipated; the continuation or tapering of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related public health measures on our business, as well as the continuation or tapering of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the overall economic environment; general market, business, competitive, economic and political conditions, including war, conflict or acts of terrorism, such as the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, and trading prices of our stock as a result of volatility in the market.

 

Additional risks and uncertainties that could affect our financial results are included under the caption “Risk Factors” in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 31, 2021, which is available on the “Investors” page of our website at https://investor.zuora.com and on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. Additional information will also be set forth in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 31, 2022. All forward-looking statements contained herein are based on information available to us as of the date hereof and we do not assume any obligation to update these statements as a result of new information or future events.

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FSN Capital has signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Seriline

Fsn Capital

 

FSN Capital has signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Seriline, a Swedish provider of Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions.  

Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Seriline is a fast-growing provider of physical access management solutions, such as physical credentials, card readers, and online identity management systems. The company is owned by the senior management team, Freddie and Pierre Parrman, who will retain a sizable stake in the company. Seriline has 29 FTEs and had SEK 84m in sales in 2021. 

Seriline is expected to be the initial platform for a buy-and-build strategy to create a Nordic cybersecurity leader within IAM, with the company having a pipeline of potential M&A targets in the fragmented market. Today, Seriline has a broad and long-term customer base, including large blue-chip corporations, as well as universities, hospitals, and other public sector institutions. For many, cybersecurity concerns and growing GDPR requirements are driving a focus on physical IAM processes and solutions.  

Erik Nelson, Partner at FSN Capital Partners, commented: “Physical security is a critical element of cybersecurity. As our world becomes more digital, physical and digital security are converging, with Identity and Access Management at the core. Seriline helps customers ensure that the right people can access the right places at the right time. We have been very impressed with the management team and look forward to working with them to build a Northern European cybersecurity leader that contributes to making the world safer and more secure.”  

Simon Larsson, Investment Director at FSN Capital Partners, commented: “Seriline has a strong position in the rapidly growing Identity and Access Management space where it is well-positioned to drive further consolidation in the market. We are very excited to partner up with Freddie Parrman and his experienced team to build a challenger in the European cybersecurity market.” 

Freddie Parrman, CEO at Seriline, commented: “We are super excited to have FSNC as our partner in the journey that we have in front of us. To have this strong partnership will be crucial in the next stage of rapid growth for Seriline. To be an early mover in this market is an advantage that will help us create value and continue to lead the way in serving the evolving security needs of our customers.”

FSN Capital was advised by Applied Value, Bain & Company, KPMG, Frank Partners, Vinge and Marsh. 

 

About Seriline
Seriline was founded in 1990 and is a Swedish-owned company with a focus on identity and access management. By combining the latest technology with many years of experience, Seriline offers proprietary software, online solutions, hardware and services that simplify the flow to creating user-friendly processes for confidentiality and integrity management of identities.  

 

About FSN Capital
Established in 1999, FSN Capital Partners is a leading Northern European private equity firm and investment advisor to the FSN Capital Funds, with €4 billion under management. FSN Capital Funds make control investments in growth-oriented Northern European companies, to support further growth and to transform companies into more sustainable, competitive, international, and profitable entities. Our ethos, “We are decent people making a decent return in a decent way” defines our core values. We are committed to being responsible investors and having a positive environmental and social impact across our portfolio.  FSN Capital Partners has a team of 68 across Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen and Munich, in addition to 9 executive advisors with extensive industry experience. Learn more about FSN Capital on: www.fsncapital.com 

 

For more information please contact the following persons at FSN Capital Partners (investment advisor to the FSN Capital Funds): 

Erik Nelson, Partner
en@fsncapital.com 

Simon Larsson, Investment Director
sl@fsncapital.com

Morten Welo, Partner & COO/IR
mw@fsncapital.com 

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