Warsaw – October 9, 2017

Perfect Gym Software, a rapidly emerging leader, which provides an end-to-end platform that revolutionizes how fitness clubs are managed, announced today that it has raised €4.5M in a new round of funding. The round was led by 3TS Capital Partners, a leading European growth technology investor. Innovation Nest (lead investor in the seed round) and Trigon TFI also participated in the round. The company will use the investment to accelerate its growth in Europe, Middle-East and Asia, as well as continue development of its technology platform.

Perfect Gym offers a comprehensive suite of product modules for next-generation management of fitness clubs, sports facilities and gyms. The company’s integrated solution is based on the latest technology with modular architecture covering all key operations performed by multi-location and multi-country fitness chains. The platform’s breadth of functionality optimizes costs and increase profits significantly. Clients receive advanced reports with up-to-date club key performance indicators, monitoring of members activity, a complete CRM database, credit card and other payments solutions, as well as the ability to generate invoices and work schedules for trainers and specialty staff. Perfect Gym’s clients include well-known brands such as McFit, Gold’s Gym, World Class, Anytime Fitness, Fitness First, Fitness World and Fitness 24 Seven. Currently the company has more than 500 Customers in 37 markets on 4 continents.

Jacek Szlendak, Founder and CEO at Perfect Gym said, “We believe that our platform provides unique opportunities for fitness clubs and gyms to improve their business results more efficiently, while driving high customer engagement benchmark. We’re thrilled to add the experience and expertise of 3TS whose support will help accelerate our growth and the development and rollout of the platform to meet the increasing demand.”

3TS Partner Zbigniew Lapinski who led the investment commented, “Perfect Gym is serving a large and fast-growing fitness market. Being fit and healthy is a priority for individuals across the globe and this trend continues to drive explosive growth of mobile applications, connected devices and ultimately number of fitness clubs and gyms. We’re extremely excited to support Perfect Gym’s rapid growth as it helps operators run their businesses better while keeping their customers happy.”

Marcin Szelag, Partner at Innovation Nest who led the previous financing in Perfect Gym said, “With its suite of products, Perfect Gym is helping clients transition from legacy on premise software to a flexible cloud solution. We feel that this is an important step for the fitness industry, which will allow to launch new products and services. As an early believer and investor in Perfect Gym we are really impressed with the progress the company has made over the last 18 months and will continue to support the founders in realizing their vision.”

Paweł Burzyński, a partner and deputy CEO of Trigon TFI added, “We are pleased to support Perfect Gym which is well positioned to benefit from two mega trends of fit lifestyle and mobile applications development. Perfect Gym is a kind of investment we like the most, which should bring positive returns to our investors and healthier life to the company’s clients.”  

About Perfect Gym
Perfect Gym is the leading technology platform for the fitness clubs, sports facilities and gyms. Local, regional and global fitness business owners use Perfect Gym’s solutions to run, automate and grow their businesses.

Learn more at www.perfectgym.com

About 3TS Capital Partners

3TS Capital Partners is one of the leading European technology focused private equity and venture capital firms.  3TS provides expansion capital and buyout funding for small and medium-sized businesses in growth sectors including Technology & Internet, Media & Communications and Technology-Enabled Services. Investors in the current and past 3TS funds totaling over €300 million include EIF, EBRD, Cisco, OTP, Sitra, 3i and KfW among others.

About Trigon TFI

Trigon is one of the fastest growing and leading Polish private Mutual Funds with asset under management of USD 1.2bn. Venture FIZ, a VC arm of the Fund, has been directly engaged into the transaction of Perfect Gym.

Learn more at www.trigontfi.pl 

About Innovation Nest

Innovation Nest is an early stage VC firm focused on B2B Software. As a thesis driven fund, Innovation Nest helps seed stage companies in the B2B market go through product and market validation phase. Innovation Nest provides financing across Seed and Series A rounds. Now investing out of the second fund and targeting B2B software companies across Europe.

Learn more at www.innovationnest.com

Gimv is to take a 23.6 per cent interest in ICT company Cegeka. With this move, Cegeka aims to strengthen its position in existing markets and expand geographically. The ambition is to realise growth both organically and by means of a buy & build strategy. Outsourcing in general is at the heart of the expansion plans and is to be the engine for further growth. Gimv will become a shareholder besides CEO André Knaepen, the Limburg Reconversion Company (LRM) and the management of Cegeka.

Since his management buy-out in 1992, André Knaepen has grown Cegeka from a local to a pan-European IT service provider with branches in ten countries. Today the company employs over 4,000 people, together serving more than 2,500 customers. Since 2006, turnover has quadrupled to over 400 million euros and it is Cegeka’s ambition to continue on this impressive growth path in the coming years. It aims to double its size again within five years.

Tom Van de Voorde, Head of Smart Industries at Gimv, on the transaction: “We can see daily from Gimv’s portfolio that IT belongs at the heart of business operations and that there is a need for players who can empathise with their customers. From our experience in ICT, we can particularly appreciate Cegeka’s continuous innovation and customer awareness. From the first contacts, we were very impressed by the growth path that the company – led by a broad and motivated management team – has taken in the last ten years. Our investment will make extra resources available with which we will give a boost to Cegeka’s ambition.”

“This capital operation is necessary to further realise Cegeka’s ambition. In the first place, we will continue investing in the development of our service range, as we want to stay ahead of the market. In our geographical expansion, we will concentrate first on those countries where we are already active. There is scope there for aligning our services more with the needs of our customers”, says Cegeka CEO André Knaepen. “We want to grow in Europe, but that will never be at the expense of our local approach. That is the DNA and the strength of Cegeka. It is from those strong customer relations that we will provide growth and sustainability for medium-sized and large organisations. This operation is a major strategic step which was supported by the team of Degroof Petercam Corporate Finance”

“LRM has been a shareholder of Cegeka since 1999 and has seen the company grow in recent years to become a top European player. With the involvement of Gimv, Cegeka will have the opportunity to gear up and realise its growth ambitions faster”, says Stijn Bijnens, CEO LRM.

The ‘Centrum voor Overheidsinformatica’ (COI), which used to be an important actor in the computerization of the Flemish Government, has supported the first European growth phase of Cegeka. With Gimv joining the capital of the company, COI will now revert to its core tasks.

Andernach-based software specialist SHD AG has partnered with Bregal Unternehmerkapital as a new strategic investor. SHD is a leading developer and vendor of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and graphical planning software for furniture and kitchen retailers. Together with Bregal as new majority owner, the company now plans to further strengthen its market position and expand its European presence. The previous owners (funds advised by Elvaston Capital, and the SHD management team) will continue to retain a stake in the company.

Corporate website SHD AG With this investment, Bregal Unternehmerkapital continues to expand its involvement in the software industry. With SHD, Bregal has once more added an enterprise to its portfolio, whose innovation, technological capabilities and services place it at the forefront of market developments. Founded in 1983, SHD is the market leader for ERP systems for furniture retailers, supporting this industry its transition to the digital future. The company’s products greatly facilitate and accelerate key processes for its customers – in addition to ERP applications, the product portfolio includes intelligent controlling of warehouse logistics in furniture retailing as well as graphical planning and visualisation software for kitchens, bathrooms and interior design. Finally, the SHD product portfolio offers financial and human-resources management software for a wide range of industries.

Bregal Unternehmerkapital aims to support SHD AG with capital, know-how and Bregal’s network of experts as it continues on its path of organic, sustainable development. Suitable acquisitions will also be considered in order to achieve additional scaling and synergy effects, and thus further strengthen SHD’s market position. With the European market currently offering promising conditions, Bregal is looking forward to a fruitful working relationship in this promising field.

Press contact:

IRA WÜLFING KOMMUNIKATION
Dr. Reinhard Saller
Phone: +49 89 2000 30-30
bregal@wuelfing-kommunikation.de

Green Replacement develops software that enables unified system of monitoring, analysis and optimization of large-scale renewable energy plants. The company has two software-based services, Breeze and Bright, which streamlines the operation of wind and solar power plants. With a single system for large-scale operation of renewable energy saves time and money, while electricity production increases.

Almi Invest, which invested in the company in 2009, now sells its stake to Belgian Korys.

– We have been active owner of Green Change since its inception eight years ago, said Robert Hellman, investment manager at Almi Invest. Meanwhile, the company has evolved to become an established international player with rapid growth. It feels good to hand over the baton to a competent investor Korys.

Green Change has nearly 20 percent market share in Sweden, 15 percent in Benelux and Finland, as well as over 10 percent in the United Kingdom, Uruguay and South Africa. The company is also growing in Germany, which is Europe’s largest market for wind power. The next step is to continue to grow in its core markets with strong presence in North America.

Green Byte has 35 employees and its head office in Gothenburg.

– This is the latest in a series of positive exits for us, says Almi Invest’s CEO Mikael Karlsson. It is very funny to note that our portfolio now reached the level of maturity that our companies are attractive to both Swedish and international investors.

International private equity firm, Cinven, today announces it has agreed to sell CPA Global, the world’s leading Intellectual Property (‘IP’) management and technology company, to Leonard Green & Partners, L.P. (‘LGP’), a leading US buyout firm, for an undisclosed consideration.

CPA Global is the world’s leading provider of IP software, services and data & analytics for corporates and law firms. The business manages more than two million patents for more than 10,000 customers across the globe. The business has 23 offices worldwide and operates from its headquarters in Jersey, Channel Islands.

Cinven acquired CPA Global in March 2012 as part of its strategy of investing in world-class European-headquartered companies where it can support global growth using its sector expertise and Asian portfolio capabilities.

Cinven acquired the business directly from a group of IP law firms who had originally established the company.  Under Cinven’s ownership, CPA Global has achieved strong growth, accelerated its global expansion, and led a successful transformation into a technology-led business.

Over the past five years, Cinven has worked closely with CPA Global’s management team to:

• Achieve double-digit organic EBITDA growth in the company’s core business of IP software and renewals, driven by consistent increases in the total global stock of patents;
• Drive significant investment in CPA Global’s technology platform, software suite and IP data and analytics proposition;
• Develop new innovative products for IP professionals to automate IP processes and workflows (including CPA Global File, and CPA Global’s proprietary IP Platform^TM);
• Complete six bolt-on acquisitions in the IP management sector, including three in the United States, two in Europe, and one in Asia;
• Accelerate the company’s geographic expansion, particularly in China and South Korea, both organically and through acquisitions; and
• Transition to a best-in-class management team, led by CEO, Simon Webster, and CFO, Ben Gujral.

Stuart McAlpine, Managing Partner at Cinven, said:

“Cinven acquired CPA Global because we saw an exceptional company in a highly attractive market, with an opportunity to transform the business from a service provider into a technology-led business, as Cinven has done with other successful investments, such as Amadeus.”

“During our ownership, Cinven and CPA Global’s management team have driven this transformation as well as consolidated the sector through a buy-and-build strategy. CPA Global is now in a strong position to continue taking advantage of the market opportunity.”

Anthony Cardona, Principal at Cinven, added:

“Cinven and CPA Global’s entrepreneurial management team have led CPA Global’s transition to a technology-led business, by investing in the company’s software suite and technology platform, and extending into other parts of the IP process such as patent filing and patent data & analytics.”

“Cinven also supported CPA Global’s global expansion – with the support of our Portfolio team in Asia – and executed multiple bolt-on acquisitions across the world.  We wish the company and its management team, led by Simon Webster, success in its next stage of growth.”

Simon Webster, Chief Executive Officer, CPA Global, commented:

“Cinven has provided huge support to CPA Global over the past five years. Our investment in technology has enabled us to provide an unrivalled integrated technology platform for end-to-end IP management for both corporates and law firms. In addition, we have successfully built our proposition to span the entire IP lifecycle, providing products and services to customers to support innovation, ensure patent protection, and enable companies to commercialise their IP. We would like to thank the Cinven team and are now looking forward to the next exciting phase of our growth.”

This transaction follows Cinven’s recent sale of HEG, the web hosting provider, to GoDaddy Inc. in the US in April 2017.  During 2017, Cinven has also realised its investments in SLV, the residential and technical lighting provider (Germany); Avio Space Propulsion, the international operator of space launchers and space propulsion (Italy); and will complete the partial realisation of Visma, the provider of business critical software (Nordics and Benelux).

The completion of the sale of CPA Global is subject to customary regulatory approval.

Advisors to Cinven on this transaction included: Goldman Sachs (M&A), J.P. Morgan (M&A), Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (legal), Boston Consulting Group (commercial), Ernst & Young (financial), BDO (tax).