Tag Archives: Information technology

Asolvi acquires Vantage Computing

Viking venture

TRONDHEIM, NORWAY – FEBRUARY 12TH 2019 – 9AM GMT – Asolvi (www.asolvi.com), the
leading European provider of service management software for small and medium-sized
enterprises in the European field service industry, today announces the acquisition of Vantage
Computing (www.vantagecomputing.co.uk), one of the world’s most trusted developers of
service management solutions.

The procurement of Vantage Computing will enable a large number of Asolvi’s customers
(typically small to mid-sized companies) to benefit from Vantage Online: Vantage Computing’s
cloud-based product, currently providing streamlined and in-depth insights for 150 organizations.
Now underneath the Asolvi umbrella, Vantage Computing’s software solution will reach even
more small to mid-sized businesses and be further developed for this purpose.
The acquisition – Asolvi’s fourth in three years, with three of its purchased companies being UK in
origin – means that together the companies will have more than 1,000 customers across 35+
countries.

“The acquisition of Vantage Computing was a natural move for us,” comments Pål M. Rødseth,
CEO of Asolvi. “Previously a competitor of Purpose Software, which we acquired last month,
Vantage Computing complements our Evatic solution as it will help reach more customers that
are smaller in size. We are very excited to work with Tony Milford and his team and are looking
forward to drawing on the strength of the Asolvi family to utilize Vantage Computing to its full
potential. Tony and I believe that both companies will be stronger together and that we’ll be able
to generate efficient and seamless services for a large section of the industry.”

“It makes sense for us to be a part of the Asolvi family,” adds Tony Milford, CEO of Vantage
Computing. “Bringing the teams together means that we are able to develop and build better
products on a more solid foundation with Asolvi. We are incredibly excited to be one of the
component companies within the market leader in service management solutions for document
management, and I look forward to continue the journey as a part of the Asolvi family.”
With decades of combined experience developing solutions for a broad array of field service
sectors, Asolvi’s products manage thousands of engineers, millions of contracts, and tens of
millions of service tasks. Its mission is to continue creating, developing and honing new
NORWAY / UNITED KINGDOM / SWEDEN / FRANCE / GERMANY / SINGAPORE
functionality and solutions for the largely under-served SME market, through collaboration and
close relations with its customers. By understanding the issues, needs and preferences of SMEs,
the company is in a prime position to deliver the robust and intelligent solutions that the
increasingly service-oriented economy demands.

The consecutive acquisitions of Tesseract (in 2016), WS Software (in 2017), and, most recently,
Purpose Software in January 2019, is in line with Asolvi’s strategy to become the leading provider
of field service management systems for SMEs in Europe. The company has now added Vantage
Computing’s Vantage Online and Service Accent, Purpose Software’s 2Serv and CBS solutions to
its broadening product suite, which already includes the world-renowned Evatic, Tesseract and
WinServ solutions.

About Asolvi
Asolvi is a leading provider of service management software for small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs) in the field service industry in Europe. The private company is owned by the
founders, management and Viking Venture and is headquartered in Trondheim, Norway. More
information about its services is available from https://asolvi.com
About Vantage Computing
Founded in 1992, Vantage is one of the world’s leading developers of service management
solutions that maximize workforce productivity, improve customer satisfaction and minimize
operational costs. We have provided solutions to service operations in more than 35 countries
throughout the world. More information about its services is available from
www.vantagecomputing.co.uk.

For press information, please contact:
Asolvi
Pål M Rødseth
CEO
Phone: + 47 9069 7159
Email: pmr@asolvi.com
Deliberate PR
Amie Smith
Senior Account Executive
Phone: + 44 207 221 1540
Email: amie@deliberate-pr.com

 

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EQT to invest in VBill, a leading third-party payment service provider in China

eqt

  • EQT Mid Market Asia has signed an agreement to acquire 10% primary shares in VBill, a leading third-party payment service provider in China with a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises
  • EQT will support VBill’s continued customer base growth across city tiers and potential international expansion to become the go-to payment platform with comprehensive product offerings to support merchants
  • EQT is partnering with VBill’s founding management and its parent company, Hi Sun Technology, to jointly drive VBill’s next growth phase

The EQT Mid Market Asia III fund (“EQT” or “EQT Mid Market Asia”) has signed an agreement to acquire 10% primary shares in VBill Limited (“VBill” or the “Company”), a leading third-party payment service provider and merchant acquirer in China with a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”). The management team, under the joint leadership of SHEN Zheng, Chairman, LI Huimin, CEO, GUO Yi, Vice President, XUE Guangyu, Vice President, and GE Xiaoxia, CFO, together with EQT and VBill’s parent company, Hi Sun Technology (China) Limited (“Hi Sun Technology”, 818.SEHK), will drive the Company’s next phase of growth.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Beijing, VBill offers a full range of payment solutions, including bank card acquiring, omni-channel payment, Internet payment and others. By leveraging its extensive merchant base, VBill also provides value-add services, such as fintech-enabled consumer lending. Under the leadership of the founding management team, possessing more than 20 years of industry experience, VBill has achieved remarkable growth since inception, and is today a leading merchant acquirer with a comprehensive service offering, large merchant base and innovative and extensive sales network.

With a strong management team and the support and relevant payment services experience from EQT’s Industrial Network, VBill is well-positioned to capture the attractive growth opportunities in the large and fast-growing third-party payment market in China. The strategy includes continued expansion into lower-tier cities and penetration in SMEs, leveraging the existing network to continue developing consumer lending business, and opportunistically identifying overseas expansion opportunities in Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia.

SHEN Zheng, Chairman of VBill, said: “We are thrilled to have EQT as our strategic partner for VBill’s next growth phase. With EQT’s global and Chinese corporate governance and service sector experience, we are well-positioned to become the go-to payment service provider for local merchants and pursue overseas expansion opportunities.”

Martin Mok, Partner, Head of EQT Mid Market Asia and Investment Advisor to EQT Mid Market Asia III, concluded: “The management team has led the Company to achieve remarkable growth and become a top player in the sector. EQT looks forward to the new partnership and is fully committed to supporting the management team to continue delivering consistent growth and value creation through various expansion strategies.”

VBill’s implied total equity value in this investment is estimated to be up to RMB 5,880 million (USD 876 million), subject to the audited net income for the fiscal year of 2018. The Company processed over RMB 1.1 trillion (USD 170 billion) transaction value and recorded annual sales of RMB 1.7 billion (USD 254 million) and net income of RMB 190 million (USD 28 million) in 2017. Sales has grown at 2015-17A CAGR of 106% from RMB 402 million in 2015. NPAT has grown at 2015-17A CAGR of 102% from RMB 47 million in 2015. As of September 2018, VBill had 948 employees. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2019, subject to completion of restructuring.

Contacts
Martin Mok, Partner, Head of EQT Mid Market Asia and Investment Advisor to EQT Mid Market Asia III, +852 6303 3077
EQT Press Office, press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 553 34

About EQT
EQT is a leading investment firm with more than EUR 50 billion in raised capital across 28 funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia and the US with total sales of more than EUR 19 billion and approximately 110,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.

More info: www.eqtpartners.com

About VBill
VBill is a leading independent third-party payment service provider in mainland China, present in over 200 cities and serving over 2.8 million active merchants. Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Beijing, VBill is fully licensed to conduct bank card acquiring, internet payment, mobile payment, cross border RMB settlement, and internet micro-lending services.

More info: www.vbill.cn 

About Hi Sun Technology
Hi Sun Technology (stock code: 818.HK) is a leading integrated solutions provider of payments, finance, and telecommunications in China. Hi Sun Technology is principally engaged in the provision of payment processing solutions, financial solutions, platform operation solutions, as well as sales of information security chips and solutions, and electronic power meters and solutions.

More info: www.hisun.com.hk 

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Loopia Group acquires WebSupport, the #1 web hosting company in Slovakia

Axcel

WebSupport, headquartered in Bratislava, is a major Central European provider of web hosting and web services to over 100,000 customers in Slovakia and Hungary. Part of the growing local tech community, WebSupport has an impressive history of high customer satisfaction and double-digit growth. Besides hosting, it offers domain registration and cloud infrastructure-services to consumers and small & medium sized companies.

– We are excited to welcome the WebSupport team into the Loopia Group as we continue our growth journey. Over the past three years the team has shown how extraordinary focus on making customers happy and building a great entrepreneurial culture can result in high growth and solid financial results, says Sara Laurell, CEO of Loopia Group.

WebSupport and Loopia Group are a good match, sharing the ambition to deliver high-quality products, technological innovations and outstanding local customer support. In addition, the customer-base in Slovakia and Hungary complements the groups Active24 business based in Prague.

After the acquisiton, Loopia Group has a solid platform for future growth, organically and through further acquisitions, across Central Europe.

– For WebSupport, this is an acceleration of our ambition to reach more customers with our quality products and outstanding support, says Jan Cifra, CEO of WebSupport.

About Loopia Group
Loopia Group is an innovative European web services and hosting business with operations in Sweden, through market leading Loopia, and in the Czech Republic, with Active24. Loopia Group also provides services to customers in Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Norway, Serbia, Slovakia and Spain. Loopia also recently acquired SE Direkt, Internetstiftelsen’s Swedish registrar-business.

Since June 2018, Loopia Group is owned by Axcel, a Nordic private equity company focusing on mid-market companies.

For more information, please contact:
Sara Laurell, CEO Loopia Group, +46 72 708 4848, www.loopiagroup.com
Jan Cifra, CEO WebSupport, +421 903 184 310, www.websupport.sk

Contact Axcel in Copenhagen or Stockholm.

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Questel acquires intellectual property services company Concur IP

ik-investment-partners

Today, Questel announces a majority investment in Concur IP, an India and US based IP services company well known for its patent drafting and standard essential patents related capabilities. This investment adds an essential piece to Questel’s existing suite of IP services. Questel can now support its clients throughout the entire IP lifecycle offering patentability search, patent drafting, translations, and international filing, as well as post grant support during licensing negotiations and litigations. Nitin Agrawal and Sachin Sinha will continue to operate as Concur IP’s Co-CEOs post this merger.

“Concur IP’s drafting service will dovetail nicely with Questel’s prior art search service,” said Charles Besson, Questel’s CEO. “Our full suite of services, including International Filing and Translation, meets a growing desire for more efficiency and clarity in connection with Intellectual Property costs, which we can now substantially guarantee to our customers”.

After noting Concur IP’s diverse experience, Nitin Agrawal, said “We believe corporate IP departments are committed to finding cost effective ways to delegate routine tasks, so they can focus their time on higher level activities. Our team of highly skilled and experienced IP professionals, having drafted more than 3,000 patent applications cumulatively, is well positioned to fulfil the demand of high quality patent applications at reasonable cost.”

Another key benefit Concur IP brings to Questel is their “Standard Essential Patent (SEP)” expertise, which is already being utilized by large telecom companies and law firms during licensing negotiations, litigations, and patent acquisitions. “Our SEP services enable companies to determine fair and reasonable licensing terms for standardized technologies. Our methodology is now well established in the market and has been adopted by the court, companies, and economists to calculate royalty rates. With Questel and their sophisticated platforms, we look forward to bringing more transparency in the process of technology standardization and the associated IP practices” said Sachin Sinha.

Questel is one of the world’s leading intellectual property management companies, delivering complete software and service solutions for each stage of the innovation lifecycle. And, for both software and services, Questel leverages a comprehensive and unique collection of intellectual property and scientific databases. With recent acquisitions of ITIP and Multiling, Questel now delivers the world’s largest and highest quality services for foreign filing of patent applications and translations. These services, when added to Questel’s e-learning and general IP consulting, make Questel the final destination to fulfill the most critical IP and Innovation needs. www.questel.com

Concur IP was formed with the specific purpose of providing high-end IP consulting services in a cost-effective manner. Concur IP’s solutions cater to various IP needs of corporates, law firms, universities, research organizations, consulting firms, and licensing support firms. Core services offerings include patent application drafting, office action responses, patent licensing & litigation support services, patent research and analytics. www.concurip.com

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Haven Cyber Technologies acquires Onevinn

C5 Capital

Haven Cyber Technologies acquires Onevinn, the leading Swedish provider of Microsoft cloud services and solutions


Simultaneously Haven unveils its new board including Sir Mick Davis, Mike Garland, William Kilmer, Christoph von Falck, Olivier Weddrien, Mark Testoni, and Andre Pienaar, with Paddy McGuinness and General Sir Graeme Lamb as Senior Advisors

Acquisition of Onevinn, a Microsoft Elite Partner, underpins Haven’s intention to become the leading European Managed Security Solutions Provider (“MSSP”) and follows the Company’s acquisition of ITC Secure

London, 7th February 2019: Haven Cyber Technologies (“Haven”) today announces its acquisition of Onevinn, the leading Swedish provider of Microsoft cloud security services and solutions. The acquisition reflects Haven’s continued focus on strengthening its solutions, products and consulting competencies and becoming the leading European Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP). Onevinn offers security solutions for the cloud and the mobile connected world.

The specialist venture capital firm C5 Capital leads Haven based out of Luxemburg. Haven is one of the fastest growing Managed Security Service Providers (MSSP) in Europe. The acquisition of Onevinn and in particular its work with Cloud Security Services in Microsoft Azure will amplify the product and service offers of the combined Haven group.

The common goal of Haven´s operating companies – ITC Secure and Onevinn – is to provide enterprises with outstanding cybersecurity services and products.  Haven will develop a common product and services offering across its operating companies.

In addition to Onevinn, Haven acquired G3 Cyber Consulting in London and SBD Advisors in Washington D.C. in 2018 as bolt on acquisitions to ITC Secure. Both contributed to the exceptional growth of ITC Secure in 2018. ITC achieved over 50% top line growth in 2018.

Haven´s exceptional network of cyber security experts combined with outstanding business leaders and company builders is positioning the Company for further acquisitions in Europe in 2019.

The Board of Haven includes:

  • Olivier Weddrien, Executive Chairman of the Board – former CEO of DZ Equity Partner in Germany and lead Cranemere LLC, an industrial investment holding company in Germany.
  • Christoph von Falck, Group CEO of Haven – former Head of Strategic Asset Management for Airbus Defence and Space
  • Andre Pienaar – Founder of C5 Capital
  • Sir Mick Davis – former CEO of Xstrata plc
  • Mike Garland – Former Partner of Permira, the global private equity fund
  • Mark Testoni – CEO, SAP National Security Services (SAP NS2)
  • William Kilmer – former CEO and Chairman of Public Engines and Managing Partner in C5 Capital

C5’s Senior Advisers Paddy McGuinness, the former UK Deputy National Security Adviser for Intelligence, Security and Resilience, and General Sir Graeme Lamb, the former Director of UK Special Forces, bring unrivalled experience to the Haven Board.

Andre Pienaar, Founder of C5 and Haven said, “It is more important than ever to be able to provide companies and organisations with an integrated platform that can help them cover all their cyber security needs. Haven is led by a Board that has great experience in cybersecurity and in sustainable growth by acquisition. The acquisition of Onevinn expands Haven into Scandinavia and further strengthens our partnership with Microsoft as a leading cloud platform.”

Olivier Weddrien, Executive Chairman of Haven said, “With the transition to cloud services accelerating and maturing across Europe, the acquisition of Onevinn will enable Haven to be a leader in this space, providing world class solutions to our customers and supporting the geographic reach of the group.”

Christoph von Falck, Group CEO of Haven said, “In recent years it has become clear that companies can no longer ‘get by’ when it comes to cybersecurity. Today, staying safe online is a Board-level issue, and one that requires significant investment. Most organisations don’t have the in-house expertise to tackle this growing issue and must look to outside providers. This presents a clear opportunity for Haven, an integrated industrial holding, which provides a wide range of services and applications to keep companies safe and resilient to the rapidly evolving cybersecurity threats faced by every company. We are very pleased to have acquired Onevinn and ensure that Haven is a cutting-edge cyber security tool for companies across Europe and the world. We very much look forward to working with them.”

Claes Kruse, Founder and CEO of Onevinn said, “We’re all very excited and looking forward to this new journey together with C5 and Haven. The culture within C5 and Haven and their impressive portfolio is a perfect match for us.”

END

About Haven Cyber Technologies

Haven Cyber Technologies is a pan-European industrial holding which is focused on creating a European champion in Managed Security Solution Providers (MSSP) for enterprise customers. Haven brings together a network of organisations onto its platform, enabling it to offer a bespoke product suite to each client. Companies within Haven maintain their own brands and management and benefit from innovation across the platform, which focuses on cloud computing, machine learning and automation and also provides companies with world-class talent and mentorship.

Haven is headquartered in Luxemburg and was launched in October 2018.

http://www.havencyber.com/

 

About C5 Capital

C5 Capital Limited (C5) is a specialist venture capital firm, focused on Innovative Technologies in Cyber Security, Artificial Intelligence and Cloud Computing. Headquartered in London, C5 also has offices in Washington, Munich, Luxembourg and Bahrain.

www.c5capital.com

About Onevinn

Onevinn is a Swedish Microsoft cloud services and solutions market leader that enables intelligent security solutions for the cloud and mobile connected world.

https://www.onevinn.se/

About ITC Secure

ITC provides cyber threat advisory and managed security services to help organisations assess, manage and mitigate their risk – and ultimately to protect their key data assets and the reputation of their brand.

We provide independent assessments and clear outcome-based recommendations that assist businesses make the right cyber investment choices.

From our dedicated secure operations centre in London, we deliver a comprehensive range of managed security services that enable us to detect and respond to cyber events 24x7x365.

https://itcsecure.com/

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OneStream Software to Receive Significant Investment from KKR

KKR

Michigan-based Global CPM Solution Provider is Accelerating Its Position as the One-Stop Solution for the Office of the CFO

ROCHESTER, Mich.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Feb. 7, 2019– OneStream Software LLC (“OneStream”), a leading provider of cloud or on-premise Corporate Performance Management (CPM) solutions for mid-sized to large enterprises, announced today that it has entered into an agreement to receive a significant investment from KKR, funded through a combination of KKR’s private equity and growth equity funds. The capital infusion is OneStream’s first from an external investor, after achieving nearly 500% growth over the last three years while maintaining strong profitability. The investment brings the company’s valuation to over $1.0 billion.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here:https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190207005186/en/

“Since founding this company in 2010, after having been a part of the CPM market for 20-plus years, we set out to create a platform to break down the siloes across different functions within the office of the CFO to not only modernize it, but to revolutionize organizations,” said OneStream CEO Tom Shea. “We have done this in a customer-centric way, in which every customer is a reference and has a platform to accelerate their digital finance transformation at their own pace. We are pleased to have an experienced investor like KKR back our platform and our vision for continued growth.”

OneStream’s platform is uniquely designed to address the complex requirements of corporate finance, local finance and diverse operational business units in a single application. Companies depend on OneStream to streamline multiple financial processes, including financial and operational planning, close and consolidation, compliance and regulatory reporting, and financial and business analytics. The software is architected to support large-scale cloud deployments and can easily extend to address new functional requirements and digital transformation without disruption.

OneStream’s business is expanding rapidly across new geographies, industries, and government agencies that are looking to modernize their finance functions and systems. The capital infusion will be used to accelerate investments in sales, marketing, product development and customer success to capitalize on OneStream’s strong momentum and increasing demand in new and existing markets, following record growth in 2018. Companies such as UPS®, Sagent Pharmaceuticals, Post Holdings, Inc., Fruit of the Loom, The Carlyle Group, Melrose PLC and many others depend on OneStream to streamline their multiple financial processes.

“Based on their more than two decades of experience developing software solutions for the office of the CFO, the OneStream team has taken a modern platform approach to addressing the complex financial structures facing large organizations today. As a result, OneStream’s platform is rapidly gaining mindshare as the high-quality and high-value alternative to maintaining cumbersome legacy applications,” said Dave Welsh, Member and Head of TMT Growth Equity at KKR. “We look forward to supporting the company with our proven capabilities to help our portfolio companies drive international expansion, scale operations, and enable access to a broader range of customers across industries and government.”

Upon closing of the transaction, General (Ret.) David H. Petraeus, Member, KKR, and Chairman of the KKR Global Institute; Dave Welsh, Member, KKR, and Head of TMT Growth Equity at KKR; and Jim Miele, Principal, KKR, will join OneStream’s board of directors.

Wells Fargo Securities served as exclusive financial adviser to OneStream on the transaction.

About OneStream Software
OneStream Software provides a modern Corporate Performance Management solution that unifies and simplifies financial consolidation, planning, reporting, analytics and financial data quality for sophisticated organizations. Deployed in the cloud or on-premise, OneStream XF is one of the first and only solutions that delivers corporate standards and controls, with the flexibility for business units to report and plan at additional levels of detail without impacting corporate standards – all through a single application.

The OneStream XF MarketPlace features downloadable solutions that allow customers to easily extend the value of their CPM platform to quickly meet the changing needs of finance and operations. OneStream was named to the 2018 Deloitte Fast 500 ranking in North America.

About KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate and credit, with strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns for its fund investors by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and driving growth and value creation with KKR portfolio companies. KKR invests its own capital alongside the capital it manages for fund investors and provides financing solutions and investment opportunities through its capital markets business. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

Source: KKR

For OneStream Software:
Chris McManus
(917) 324 0808
chrism@narratemarketing.com

For KKR:
Kristi Huller or Cara Major
(212) 750 8300
media@kkr.com

 

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ARDIAN Private Debt provided a senior financing solution to support CARLYLE’S acquisition of SER GROUP

Ardian

Frankfurt, 4 February 2019. Ardian, a world-leading private investment house, as a sole lender, has provided a senior financing package to Carlyle Europe Technology Partners in support of the acquisition of SER Group in Germany. The financing underlines the ongoing expansion of Ardian Private Debt’s direct lending capabilities throughout Europe.

SER is a European Enterprise Content Management solutions (ECM) software company based in Bonn (Germany) and was founded in 1984. SER is committed to innovation, highly customizable and scalable solutions, and excellent client service. SER began as a provider of electronic archiving and has grown into a supplier of state-of-the-art ECM solutions to companies throughout Europe.

Mark Brenke, Managing Director & Co-Head Ardian Private Debt, said: “As a financing partner, we are delighted to be supporting the SER management team together with Carlyle who have a strong track record of investing in B2B technology businesses. SER is the leading independent ECM software provider in the German market, leveraging its proprietary technology platform to support digital collaboration as part of corporate processes”.

Lukas Stepanek, Director within the Ardian Private Debt Team in Germany, said: “We look forward to the longer term cooperation with Carlyle and the management team to help further deliver their innovation and internationalisation strategy”.

Dr. Thorsten Dippel, Managing Director at Carlyle Europe Technology Partners (CETP), said: “We appreciate the constructive support and close cooperation with Ardian Private Debt leading to the transaction and are pleased to have chosen a long term financing partner with the capacity to provide follow-on financing in support of our strategy“.

ABOUT SER GROUP

SER is the largest European ECM provider in terms of turnover, gross profit, operating result and number of employees measured by recent results. This makes SER one of the top 5 “software-only” ECM providers worldwide. ECM excellence by SER – means vision, inspiration, experience and expertise of a team of over 550 employees. More than 2,000 reference clients and 1 million users daily work with Enterprise Content Management from SER. For almost 35 years, SER has been supporting medium-sized companies, corporations, administrations and organizations across all industries with powerful ECM software and professional services from a single source. Leading international IT analysts confirm that Doxis4 is amongst the leading ECM applications in terms of both technology and applications globally. With its homogenous platform for ECM and BPM (Business Process Management), Doxis4 seamlessly combines content and processes, linking people with information, synchronizing business processes and linking knowledge-based collaboration between companies, their suppliers and customers.

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$90bn managed or advised in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The company is majority-owned by its employees. It keeps entrepreneurship at its heart and focuses on delivering excellent investment performance to its global investor base. Through its commitment to shared outcomes for all stakeholders, Ardian’s activities fuel individual, corporate and economic growth around the world. Holding close its core values of excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship, Ardian maintains a truly global network, with more than 550 employees working from fifteen offices across Europe (Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), the Americas (New York, San Francisco and Santiago) and Asia (Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul). It manages funds on behalf of around 800 clients through five pillars of investment expertise: Funds of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.
www.ardian.com

ABOUT THE CARLYLE GROUP

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global alternative asset manager with $212 billion of assets under management across 339 investment vehicles as of September 30, 2018. Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, many of whom are public pensions. Carlyle invests across four segments – Corporate Private Equity, Real Assets, Global Credit and Investment Solutions – in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America. Carlyle has expertise in various industries, including: aerospace, defense & government services, consumer & retail, energy, financial services, healthcare, industrial, real estate, technology & business services, telecommunications & media and transportation. The Carlyle Group employs more than 1,625 people in 31 offices across six continents.

PRESS CONTACTS

ARDIAN
Headland
Viktor Tsvetanov
vtsvetanov@headlandconsultancy.co.uk
Tel: +44 020 3435 7469
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ACTIVA CAPITAL invests in EXPLORE, a leading player in the development of B2B business intelligence solutions

Activa Capital

Activa Capital takes a majority position in Explore, a leading player in the development of B2B business intelligence solutions, to support the company in its development projects.
With this primary transaction, Activa Capital becomes a shareholder of the company alongside its founding directors, Laurent Nicouleau and Philippe Raison.

The strategy of Explore and its subsidiaries is to broaden its unique data platform on its historical markets (real estate, construction, B2B services) and to win new markets through innovative distribution methods and value propositions: business intelligence, integration in management solutions (CRM, ERP…), on-demand usage via the cloud, data production and increasing value-add through Data Science.

Since its creation in 1997, the company has experienced sustained growth, reaching a turnover of more than €12m in 2018, a growth of nearly 20% compared to 2017.
Activa Capital and Explore are already making the first build-up with Gest’innov, a specialist in integrating and publishing cloud solutions based on Microsoft technologies. This integration into the Explore group will enable Gest’innov to accelerate new offerings for Explore’s historical markets (real estate, construction, B2B services), and also address new markets such as accounting firms.
With Explore, Activa Capital has now made the 8th investment in its latest fund, Activa Capital Fund III.
Laurent Nicouleau and Philippe Raison, founding directors of Explore, stated: « 20 years after the creation of the company, the arrival of Activa Capital enables us to pursue and accelerate our development, giving us the means to operate an ambitious and realistic consolidation strategy. The entrepreneurial spirit of Activa Capital and its team convinced us to choose them as a partner. »

Sébastien Berthier, CEO of Gest’innov added: « In particular, we are creating new offers, integrated on business verticals that we know well. As a Microsoft Gold Partner, we are capable of offering truly innovative solutions, benefiting from Explore’s unique database, as well as Artificial Intelligence and Azure Cloud technologies. »
Alexandre Masson and Christophe Parier, Partners at Activa Capital, completed: « We were very impressed by the complementarity of Laurent and Philippe, founders of Explore. They have a clear vision of their growth project, attractive for their clients, teams and partners, as can be seen from the recent partnership with Sébastien Berthier. Explore offers a unique value proposition to its customers. We are very proud to support them in their future developments. This investment is in line with Activa Capital’s strategy of investing alongside ambitious founders at a turning point in their growth, in order to help them to accelerate their development. »

Deal participants
Founders
▪ Explore: Laurent Nicouleau, Philippe Raison
M&A: Bryan Garnier (Thibaut de Smedt, Charlie Pujo, Diane Perrin-Pelletier)
Vendor Due Diligence: Eight Advisory (Bertrand Perrette, Jean-Baptiste Blanco)
Corporate Lawyer: Fidal (Jean-François Yerle)
▪ Gest’innov: Sébastien Berthier
Corporate Lawyer: Carcreff (Olivier Fedon)
Investors
Activa Capital: Alexandre Masson, Christophe Parier, David Quatrepoint, Elliot Thiéblin
Financial Due Diligence: EY Transaction Advisory Services (Stéphane Seguin, Gallien Gobinet)
Strategic Due Diligence: EY Parthenon (Etienne Costes, Vincent Czeszynski, Mafalda Carvalho)
Social and Legal Due Diligence: EY Avocats (Lionel Benant, Magali Levy)
M&A: Rothschild & Co (Virginie Lazès, Alexandre Boukhari)
Corporate Lawyer: Hogan Lovells (Stéphane Huten, Florian Brechon, Franciane Rondet, Sarah Naidji)
Financing Advisor: Hogan Lovells (Alexander Premont, Luc Bontoux, Diane Ferriol)
Senior financing
Senior debt: LCL (Christophe Demarche, Lucile Hellot), CIC Ouest (Guillaume Colosiez, Philippe
Florentin)
About Explore
Expert in Data Intelligence, created in 1997, Explore produces value-add to descriptive and behavioral
data on companies’ and territories’ news in order to provide unique commercial development, market
analysis and customer knowledge to its clients.
As of today, Explore has more than 1400 clients and more than 50 000 users in the real estate,
construction and business services sectors, for a turnover of more than €12m.
Learn more about Explore at explore.fr
About Gest’Innov
Founded in 2016, Gest’Innov is an integrator and publisher of cloud solutions from Microsoft, certified
Microsoft Gold Partner.
Learn more about Gest’Innov at solution-de-gestion.fr

About Activa Capital
Activa Capital is a leading French mid-market private equity firm. Activa Capital manages over €500m
of private equity funds on behalf of a wide range of institutional investors. Activa Capital partners with
ambitious mid-sized French companies, valued at €20m to €200m, seeking to accelerate their growth
and their international footprint.
Learn more about Activa Capital at activacapital.com

Press contacts
Alexandre Masson
Partner
+33 1 43 12 50 12
alexandre.masson@activacapital.com
Christophe Parier
Partner
+33 1 43 12 50 12
christophe.parier@activacapital.com
Christelle Piatto
Communication Manager
+33 1 43 12 50 12
christelle.piatto@activacapital.com

 

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Verdane adds Hive Streaming and LiveArena to its software portfolio

Verdane Capital

Verdane Capital X (“Verdane”) has invested in the video delivery software companies Hive Streaming AB (“Hive”) and LiveArena Broadcast AB (“LiveArena”). The plan is to leverage Verdane’s advisory team’s track record and network in enterprise video delivery solutions to help both companies expand their business globally.

Hive provides large enterprises such as Ericsson, Eastman, Axa Insurance and CapGemini with a unique P2P-based video distribution solution. This software-only service enables video and webcasting platforms, such as Microsoft Stream and PGi/TalkPoint, to scale live and on-demand video throughout the company without impacting the network. With the enterprise video distribution market growing at 20%, Hive is considered the technology leader in its space with over 100 patents granted. Since 2017, the company’s has grown from 13 to 60 clients.

“Hive Streaming is paving the way for increased enterprise video communication, which is increasingly a critical means of engaging employees and improving executive transparency. We are very excited to have a partner, in Verdane, who understands the challenges and opportunities of this market, comments Johan Ljungberg”, CEO, Hive Streaming.

LiveArena provides a fully automated, AI-based TV production software that allows users to produce high-quality productions without having to manually edit, cut and produce the content or manage the physical camera equipment. Key use cases are production of presentations, speeches and panel debates in conferences and meeting rooms in addition to applications in sporting events.

“We looked for an investment partner who would be able to roll up their sleeves together with our current owners and help us grow our business further. We hope to take LiveArena into a strong growth phase thanks to our products and services portfolio”, says Anders Nilsson, CEO, LiveArena.Verdane’s ownership stake will amount to 50% in both companies. The investment comprises secondary shares and primary funding.

Hive and LiveArena join a roster of over 100 Verdane investments in software companies since 2003, with a track record and combined expertise that make Verdane one of the sector’s leading Nordic growth equity investors. Pål Malmros, partner and head of software investments at Verdane Capital Advisors, comments:

“Hive Streaming and LiveArena are a natural fit for Verdane. We grew Octoshape from a similar position to a global player, and there is a strong match between both our way of working and our proven ability to build and add value to the kinds of businesses that Anders and Johan run. I very much look forward to partnering with them going forward.”

The parties have agreed not to disclose the terms of the transaction.

***

For more information, please contact:

Verdane Capital Advisors
Jonathan Bui, Communications Manager
jonathan.bui@verdane.com 
+46 76 27 28 100

Hive Streaming
Stephen Condon
stephen.condon@hivestreaming.com

LiveArena
Anders Nilsson, CEO
anders.nilsson@livearena.com
About Hive Streaming 

Hive Streaming provides efficient and secure software-based video delivery solutions for organizations who embrace video in corporate communication. The Hive Streaming service enables enterprises to leverage their existing investment in hardware and software so their employees can view high-quality on-demand and live video on their own devices. Hive Streaming seamlessly integrates with leading enterprise video management and conferencing platforms. The company plays an integral role in the video delivery and networking infrastructure of Fortune 500 companies across the globe. Hive Streaming was founded and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. For more information, visit www.hivestreaming.com or follow @hivestreaming.

About LiveArena 

LiveArena provides radically simple, innovative, and cost-effective solutions to create and deliver live and on-demand TV channels to any device, anywhere at any time. Our solutions are sized to fit the needs of every organization, from enterprise companies to small sport teams. We’ve spent more than 15 years on the cutting edge of media technology and deliver more than 30,000 live events around the world each year. Built entirely on Microsoft Azure and Azure Media Services, LiveArena content solutions are designed to take full advantage of Microsoft Azure’s global reach and resilient architecture. For more information, please visit www.livearena.com

About Verdane 

Verdane funds provide flexible growth capital to fast-growing software, consumer internet, energy or high-technology industry businesses, through both majority and minority investments in individual companies and portfolios. Verdane funds act as ambitious, active and long-term owners, helping management teams and companies accelerate and sustain growth by leveraging the Verdane advisory team’s technology capabilities and proven track record in driving business value. Verdane funds’ current portfolio includes Babyshop, Boozt, Cool Company, Dapresy, EasyPark, Freespee, Inovia, inRiver and MatHem. Verdane Advisory Group has 38 employees working out of offices in Copenhagen, Helsinki, London, Oslo and Stockholm. For more information, please visit www.verdane.com

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Univativ Group acquires QISS-IT

Triton

Frankfurt / Darmstadt (Germany), The Hague (The Netherlands), 5 February 2019 – Univativ Group (“univativ”), a Triton Smaller Mid-Cap Fund (“TSM”) company and a leading German provider of specialized personnel services, has acquired QISS-IT (“QISS -IT”), a personnel service provider for IT temp staffing, headquartered in The Hague and Curacao. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

QISS-IT was founded in 2011 and provides personnel services for IT temp staffing with a focus on increasingly sought-after female IT young professionals. The company today serves more than 120 blue-chip companies and regional organisations in the Netherlands.

It’s founder and CEO, Ms. José van Dalen, will stay significantly invested in the uniativ group and play a vital role in the further development of the joint company.

Univativ is one of the market leaders in German speaking Europe, providing specialized personnel services with a strong market presence built over the last 20 years. The Group consists of two core brands: univativ and provativ It was acquired by the Triton Smaller Mid-Cap Fund in July 2017.

About univativ Group

univativ Group is a personnel service provider that specialises in placing young professionals and has been successfully providing student and graduate specialists to more than 350 customers in different sectors. Its talent pool includes around 7,000 students and graduates at around 60 renowned universities. With 20branch offices in Germany and Switzerland, univativ employs more than 1,300 people.

provativ is a personnel service provider that specialised in the placement of experienced, freelance IT experts. provativ has two branches in Germany.

For more information: www.univativ.com

About Triton

Since its establishment in 1997, Triton has sponsored nine funds, focusing on businesses in the industrial, business services, consumer and health sectors.

The Triton funds invest in and support the positive development of medium-sized businesses headquartered in Europe.

Triton seeks to contribute to the building of better businesses for the longer term. Triton and its executives wish to be agents of positive change towards sustainable operational improvements and growth. The 37 companies currently in Triton’s portfolio have combined sales of around €13 billion and around 84,000 employees.

For more information: www.triton-partners.com

Press Contacts

Triton
Marcus Brans
Phone: +49 69 921 02204
univativ
Henning Loof
Phone: +49 6151 850 45 61

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