As of 1 February 2024, Segulah has been rebranded to Amplio, a company name we believe better reflects our refocused investment strategy. Thereby we also change our website and logotype.
We want to emphasize that the change of our corporate name does not affect the organisation, the corporate structure or the co-operation with our business partners.
Please visit our new website for more information:
Further to the announcement made by Ascential plc (LSE: ASCL) in October 2023, funds advised by Apax Partners LLP (“Apax”), a global private equity advisory firm, today announced the completion of the acquisition of WGSN, Ascential’s subsidiary data business unit focused on consumer trend forecasting.
Founded in 1998, WGSN is the world’s leading consumer trend forecaster. WGSN’s data and forecasts provide global trend insights across a wide range of industries, including fashion, beauty, food & drink, interiors, and consumer technology. The WGSN platform enables clients to make critical design and purchasing decisions. The Company has been experiencing strong growth in recent years with a revenue CAGR of 8% from 2016 to 2022.
As an independent company, WGSN is well positioned to accelerate growth and cement its place as the global leader in consumer trend forecasting. In partnership with the Apax Funds, WGSN will focus on enhancing and expanding its product design and consumer insight products across a wide range of consumer-facing industries, ensuring their expanding global client base make the right critical design and buying decisions to future-proof and accelerate their own growth.
Carla Buzasi, President and CEO, WGSN, said: “Today’s news marks an incredibly important milestone for WGSN. For over twenty-five years, WGSN has been a true pioneer, revolutionising trend forecasting and working with the world’s biggest brands to super-charge their futures. With the support of the Apax Funds and the Apax platform, we are ideally positioned to build on our unique offering, which combines AI and data forecasting models alongside the world’s best forecasters, to further support our global customers in designing and creating the products and experiences their consumers need today and tomorrow.”
Steve Kooyers, Partner, Apax, commented: “We’re excited to work side by side with Carla and her team to execute on our shared vision for growth. The team has built a terrific business with mission critical products, a strong brand, and a long history of customer success. Together, we will continue to innovate and improve WGSN’s core fashion product proposition while accelerating the Company’s already successful expansion into new verticals.”
Mark Sykes, Principal, Apax, added: “WGSN has long been at the forefront of consumer trend forecasting, and we see a meaningful opportunity to invest behind the business to help it extend its capabilities and reach. We look forward to partnering with the entire team, leveraging Apax’s sector expertise, operational experience, and deep industry network to accelerate growth and reinforce WGSN’s position as the global authority on trend forecasting.”
Apax has extensive experience partnering with businesses in the information and data space, including the Funds’ prior investments in sports-data specialist Genius Sports and workforce screening solutions provider Accurate Background. Apax also has substantial experience in B2B subscription sales from the Funds’ historical marketplace investments.
Apax was advised by Allen & Overy (lead counsel), Simon Kucher (lead commercial advisor), EY (tax and financial DD advisor) and Bank of America & Goldman Sachs (joint financial advisors).
-ENDS-
ABOUT APAX
Apax Partners LLP (“Apax”) is a leading global private equity advisory firm. For 50 years, Apax has worked to inspire growth and ideas that transform businesses. The firm has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments of more than $65 billion. The Apax Funds invest in companies across four global sectors of Internet/Consumer, Tech, Services, and Healthcare. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. For more information see: www.apax.com.
Apax Partners is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK.
ABOUT WGSN
WGSN is the global authority on consumer, lifestyle and product design trends, helping brands around the world create the right products at the right time for tomorrow’s consumer.
WGSN’s trusted consumer and design forecasts power outstanding product design, enabling our customers to create a better future. Our services cover consumer insights, beauty, consumer tech, fashion, interiors, lifestyle, food and drink forecasting, data analytics and expert advisory.
Visit wgsn.com
FPE Capital LLP (‘FPE’), the specialist software & services focused lower mid-market growth investor, announces that their portfolio company Egress Group (‘Egress’) has acquired Stalis, specialists in healthcare data migration and archiving. Together, the two companies will offer a unique proposition to the healthcare sector – providing comprehensive end-to-end data management services and solutions.
Egress was FPE’s first investment from FPE Fund III, the firm’s third specialist software and services fund, the successful final close of which was announced in May 2022 at a raised hard cap of £185m. FPE’s investment in Egress was focused on leading the expansion of the management team and helping to accelerate growth within the sizeable and expanding UK market.
The acquisition brings together renowned providers in their respective data management fields, combining more than half a century’s experience working on large-scale, complex, multi-system change programmes. Stalis, 100% focused on healthcare since its inception in 1984, is best known as a leading supplier of data migration and data quality expertise, as well as archiving solutions, in this sector. This is complemented by Egress’s proven track record successfully delivering multiple healthcare system integration and interoperability programmes.
Llewellyn John, Partner at FPEWe are delighted to be welcoming Stalis into the Egress Group and are very excited about the synergy between the two organisations. The combined team represents the leading healthcare data management experts, with longstanding expertise across all major EPR vendors and systems and are both committed to advancing innovation in the healthcare sector by delivering unmatched end-to-end data management.
Joe Rooke, CEO of Egress GroupThe opportunity presented by combining the experience and track record of both Egress and Stalis is really special. Together, we can offer healthcare organisations true, end-to-end data management expertise, which is a unique proposition. Approaching all the data objectives of those organisations with one vision will be incredibly beneficial and, together, we can deliver that.
Kate, and the Stalis team, are a natural complement to our own organisation and staff. We share common values and company cultures, with like-minded individuals all passionate about what they do and the industries we work with.
Kate Bryan, Managing Director at StalisThis is an incredibly exciting next chapter for Stalis, which we believe will offer significant opportunities and very real benefits for our customers and also for all of our employees.
When we met Joe and the Egress team, it was obvious we all shared the same commitment to the healthcare sector, really wanting to make a difference to providers, their teams and, ultimately, the people they care for.
The NHS faces many challenges and data is one of the keys to unlocking real service transformation and innovation in care delivery. But those decisions and changes are only going to be as good as the data they are based upon. As a team, we understand this and will continue to support healthcare organisations to achieve complete data confidence throughout what are complex and challenging system change programmes.
Stalis will continue to operate as Stalis, with a complete focus on healthcare. No organisational changes are planned and all the senior leadership team, including Kate Bryan as MD, are remaining in post.
The transaction was led by Llewellyn John, Connor Trendell, Harriet Hunt and Harry Gill from FPE. Egress were advised on the transaction by Stephenson Harwood (Legal), Cortus Transaction Services (Financial), Tax Advisory Partnership (Tax) and Graph Strategy (Commercial). Headpoint Advisers advised the shareholders of Stalis.
Renewcast, an innovative Italian company specializing in advanced wind power generation forecasting, has successfully closed its seed financing round, raising approximately €850,000. This round was led by Helen Venture of Finland and saw follow-on participation from Tech4Planet, the National Technology Transfer Hub of Environmental Sustainability launched by CDP Venture Capital SGR, along with continued support from funding team and previous investors Beamline Fund, and Mindtitan, the latest as strategic development partner.
Renewcast is at the forefront of the wind power generation forecasting technology with its proprietary SaaS AI/Deep Learning platform. The platform enables more accurate forecasting of day-ahead and intra-day wind production based on existing weather forecasts data, creating significant balancing cost savings.
Fabio Nicolò, CEO and Founder of Renewcast, says, “We are excited and honored for the trust and support shown by Helen Venture, CdP Tech4Planet, along with all our existing partner and investors. This funding will greatly accelerate our market penetration and enhance our technological capabilities, enabling us to serve a global portfolio of corporate clients with our fully automated Azure Cloud based platform.”
Mikael Myllymäki, Vice President and Head Of Helen Ventures adds, “Wind forecasting represents a huge market opportunity, especially in the context of strongly fluctuating energy prices and imperative of deploying renewable energy production. We are convinced in Renewcast’s exceptional prediction accuracy, as validated by our experts, and the seasoned management team leading the company, who have secured great early customer traction.”
Claudia Pingue, head of CDP Venture Capital SGR’s Technology Transfer Fund, comments, “The reliability of wind forecasting is crucial for the sustainable transition to renewable energy. The global market potential, combined with Renewcast’s experienced team and deep market understanding, made this an attractive investment, reinforced by strong validation from major utilities.”
Renewcast has already proven its technology with over 500 MW of installed wind turbines across Italy and Europe. Clients such as Utilitas Wind in Latvia have scaled up from pilot to commercial service, recognizing the superior reliability of Renewcast’s forecasting.
Renars Urbanovics, Board Member of Utilitas Wind Latvia, states, “Renewcast’s forecasting reliability is 20-30% better than our benchmark. We’re fully confident in the value we receive from Renewcast’s services, which is why we’ve opted for a premium-price-for-premium-performance agreement.”
The successful closure of this seed round was facilitated by the expert legal guidance of Avvocati. Net team (Alessandro M. Lerro, Matteo Ettore Panizza, Giulio De Bruno) for Renewcast, and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (Europe) LLP team (Attilio Mazzilli, Alessandro Vittoria, Pietro Fazzini, Claudia Francesca Micol Cirinà), representing Helen Ventures.
Founded in 2020, Renewcast is emerging as a game-changer in the wind power generation forecasting industry with its cutting-edge machine learning SaaS platform. The company has been recognized with awards such as “Bando Pre-Seed” and Boost Your Ideas from Lazio Innova, and is part of the Beamline Accelerator Portfolio which contributed significantly to reach current results. Supported by MindTitan as a technological strategic partner, Renewcast’s dynamic leadership team is propelling the company toward global leadership in renewable forecasting services.
The team is lead by CEO & Founder Fabio Nicolò, with over 28 years of experience in management consulting in the energy sector across Italy, Europe, and the USA, and an Executive MBA from Stanford, USA; Ugo Mattoni, CCO & Co-Founder, with 35+ years in the energy sector in Italy and Europe, and an MBA from Luiss Business School; Sibghat Ullah, Senior ML Engineer & Co-Founder, with 5+ years in IT, Data Science, AI & ML engineering, holding a PhD in Data Science and a Master’s Degree in Computer Science; and Marco Piscopiello, Product Optimization Lead, Holding a degree in engineering, with more than 12 years of experience in the energy sector, power and demand forecasting, data science, and data architectures.
HONG KONG–(BUSINESS WIRE)– KKR, a leading global investment firm, today announced the final close of KKR Asia Pacific Infrastructure Investors II SCSp (the “Fund”), a US$6.4 billion fund focused on infrastructure-related investments across Asia Pacific.
At close, the Fund is the largest pan-regional infrastructure fund to have been raised for Asia Pacific. This closely follows KKR’s inaugural Asia Pacific-dedicated infrastructure fund, KKR Asia Pacific Infrastructure Investors SCSp, which closed at US$3.9 billion in 2021 as the largest Asia-dedicated pan-regional fund at the time. Since the Fund’s launch, KKR has already invested or committed more than half of its capital across approximately 10 investments. KKR’s Asia Pacific infrastructure platform has organically grown to approximately US$13 billion in assets under management since its inception in 2019.
“Infrastructure is a key pillar of KKR’s global and regional strategy. We are proud to have built and scaled a market-leading platform in Asia Pacific in a short span of time, and are grateful for the continued support by our investors as we close our milestone second pan-regional fund,” said David Luboff, Co-Head of KKR Asia Pacific and Head of Asia Pacific Infrastructure at KKR. “The success of the fundraise is a testament to the confidence that global investors have in our ability to deliver strong risk-adjusted returns and differentiated value-add through our established multi-asset platform, local presence in key markets, and strong ability to collaborate across multiple strategies and the region. Their commitment underscores our shared conviction that Asia Pacific’s infrastructure sector holds tremendous potential over the long term.”
KKR’s infrastructure investment approach brings together a disciplined selection process with distinctive investment sourcing and structuring capabilities executed by a dedicated investment team based in markets across Asia Pacific. In line with this approach, the Fund will focus on critical infrastructure with low volatility and strong downside protection where KKR believes it can add value and achieve attractive risk-adjusted returns by leveraging its global network of industry experts, its highly experienced team in Asia Pacific, and long track record of operational value creation. The Fund has a broad investment mandate across various sectors, including renewables, power and utilities, water and wastewater, digital infrastructure, and transportation, among others.
Hardik Shah, a Partner on KKR’s Infrastructure team based in Mumbai, said, “As Asia accounts for more than 60% of global growth, driven by rising domestic consumption and productivity, rapid urbanization, and an enormous emerging middle class, the need for new infrastructure and sustainable energy sources will continue to accelerate. We believe this backdrop presents a significant opportunity for value-added private infrastructure investors, and we welcome the chance to invest behind the development and success of critical infrastructure across Asia Pacific.”
Keith Kim, a Partner on KKR’s infrastructure team based in Seoul, said, “Our ability to create investment opportunities and successfully fundraise in a challenging macro environment reflects the strength of our localized teams who have a deep understanding of the markets and business landscapes where we invest, as well as KKR’s global expertise and capabilities. We are pleased to significantly deepen our commitment to Asia’s infrastructure sector through the Fund.”
The Fund received strong backing from a diverse group of new and existing prominent global investors across the world, including public and corporate pensions, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, endowment funds, and asset managers.
Brandon Donnenfeld, a Managing Director in KKR Global Client Solutions added, “KKR has built a differentiated infrastructure investing approach that combines our decades-long experience of being a value-add investor, having localized teams, and maintaining a focus on downside protection. We are honored to have the continued support from our investors and look to continue delivering strong performance for them.”
KKR first established its global infrastructure team and strategy in 2008 and has since been one of the most active infrastructure investors around the world. Today, the Firm manages approximately US$56 billion in assets under management across more than 80 infrastructure investments, and has a team of more than 90 dedicated infrastructure investment professionals globally.
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP represented KKR as primary fund counsel for this fundraise.
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. For additional information about Global Atlantic Financial Group, please visit Global Atlantic Financial Group’s website at www.globalatlantic.com.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240131782646/en/
Media:
KKR Asia Pacific
Wei Jun Ong
+65 6922 5813
WeiJun.Ong@kkr.com
KKR Americas
Liidia Liuksila or Emily Cummings
+1 212-750-8300
Media@kkr.com
Source: KKR
Main announces the majority investment in Millum, a Norwegian Procure-to-Pay software provider for the hospitality sector.
Moving forward, Main will act as a strategic partner to the management team, supporting Millum in its growth journey. By pursuing a selective buy-and-build strategy and by adding complementary solutions to fuel cross-selling, Millum has strong potential to further internationalize. This strategic move marks Main Capital’s first stand-alone platform investment into the Norwegian market.
Millum, founded in 2002 in Norway by CEO Bjørn Anskau, business developer Knut Øksby, and CFO Roberto Padin, has emerged as a frontrunner in the procurement technology domain. The company’s SaaS-based “Procure-to-Pay” platform caters to hotels, restaurants and canteens, streamlining processes, simplifying the flow of information and enhancing trade efficiency. Millum currently serves more than 95% of the suppliers and more than 90 purchasers within the hospitality sector across the Nordics, including renowned clients, such as Strawberry Hotels, Scandic Hotels, and Coor Service Management.
Attractive product market and international scalability
Millum has built an attractive modular product portfolio which is well positioned for further growth and international expansion. The company, active in the procurement market, will be able to benefit from Main Capital Partners’ expertise, gained through previous investments in the procurement and broader supply chain management sector. Millum has a strong presence in Norway, with a growing presence in Sweden and Denmark, positioning it as a leading player in the Nordic market. With Main’s international growth support, Millum is poised to explore adjacent verticals and to continue growing internationally across the Nordics and Europe. Main will also support the company in a selective buy-and-build strategy to internationalize and strengthen the product offering with new solutions to establish a comprehensive one stop shop offering.
Bjørn Anskau, CEO of Millum, mentioned: “As we join forces with Main Capital Partners, we are excited about the possibilities that lie ahead for Millum. This partnership not only signifies our shared commitment to excellence but also accelerates our mission to revolutionize procurement processes in the Nordic region and beyond.”
The collaboration between Main Capital Partners and Millum is poised to unlock new opportunities for international expansion, leveraging Millum’s robust platform and Main Capital’s expertise in supporting companies on their global growth journeys.
“Millum’s market-leading position in Norway, coupled with its proven international scalability, aligns seamlessly with Main’s vision for strategic investments,” stated Wessel Ploegmakers, Partner & Head of Nordics at Main Capital Partners. “We see tremendous potential in Millum’s product portfolio and look forward to accelerating its growth trajectory by exploring new markets and expanding its international footprint.”
Millum’s market-leading position in Norway, coupled with its proven international scalability, aligns seamlessly with Main’s vision for strategic investments
– Wessel Ploegmakers, Partner & Head of Nordics at Main Capital Partners
Millum AS was founded in 2002 by Knut Øksby, Bjørn Anskau and Roberto Padin as main founders (together with two main investors) in Norway and is based at Fornebu, outside Oslo. Millum is a software company providing the preferred procurement system for hotels, restaurants and staff restaurants in the Nordics. The solution simplifies the procurement process for actors in the food service industry. Millum has 35 employees in total and operate across the Nordics. The total trading volume through Millum’s solution was NOK 11 billion in 2023.
CapMan Plc press release
31 January 2024 at 3:00 p.m. EET
CapMan to publish its 2023 Financial Statements Bulletin on Wednesday 7 February 2024
CapMan will publish its financial statements bulletin for the period 1 January–31 December 2023 on Wednesday 7 February 2024 around 8.00 a.m. EET as a stock exchange release.
The company’s CEO Pia Kåll will present the results for the review period to analysts, investors and the media over a live webcast press conference starting at 9.30 a.m. EET available at https://capman.videosync.fi/q4-2023. The result presentation is followed by a Q&A.
The conference will be held in English. The presentation material will be available at CapMan’s website after the event (https://www.capman.com/shareholders/financial-reports/).
For further information, please contact:
Linda Tierala, Director, IR and Sustainability, tel. +358 40 571 7895, linda.tierala@capman.com
Webcast:
7 February 2024 at 9.30 a.m. EET
https://capman.videosync.fi/q4-2023
About CapMan
CapMan is a leading Nordic private asset expert with an active approach to value creation. As one of the private equity pioneers in the Nordics we have built value in unlisted businesses, real estate, and infrastructure for over three decades. With approx. €5 billion in assets under management, our objective is to provide attractive returns and innovative solutions to investors. An example of this is greenhouse gas reduction targets that we have set under the Science Based Targets initiative in line with the 1.5°C scenario. We have a broad presence in the unlisted market through our local and specialised teams. Our investment strategies cover minority and majority investments in portfolio companies and real estate, and infrastructure assets. We also provide wealth management solutions. Our service business includes procurement and analysis, reporting and back office services. Altogether, CapMan employs approximately 180 professionals in Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo, London, Luxembourg and Jyväskylä. We are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki since 2001. Learn more at www.capman.com.
August Equity-backed StarTraq continues its expansion with the acquisition of JML Software Solutions Ltd (JML), the sole providers of Chronicle Systems – the leading provider of compliance software into Police forces for high-risk assets. Chronicle is StarTraq’s second acquisition within eight months of August’s initial investment – adding further scale and capability to the group, which now provides software into all UK Police forces.
Chronicle Systems is a Milton Keynes-based provider of cloud-based software into UK Police forces. Its suite of software modules digitise the way police forces monitor compliance of officers’ specialist training and competence assessments, as well as controlling and auditing access to high-risk assets such as firearms and vehicles. Luis Ponte, who founded Chronicle, will remain with the group post-acquisition.
Chronicle’s capability complements StarTraq’s strong organic growth and bolsters the group’s position as a leading compliance software business. Its diversified public sector customer base now includes all police forces across the UK, as well as a growing number of international forces and UK local authorities.
Kevin McCallum, Group CEO at StarTraq commented:
“Chronicle is a great strategic fit with StarTraq, strengthening our suite of market-leading software solutions that help police forces and local authorities streamline and digitise their critical daily operations. We have enjoyed working with Luis and the business in recent months and we really look forward to working with the talented team across Chronicle.”
Luis Ponte, Founder and CEO at Chronicle, commented:
“After more than 20 years developing Chronicle, the time was right for JML to benefit from being part of a larger group. StarTraq were a logical fit for us with their focus on public sector and a similar company ethos. There are exciting times ahead for our staff and customers and I very much look forward to working with the wider StarTraq team.”
Mickey Patel, Partner at August Equity, commented:
“The acquisition of Chronicle is a continuation of our journey to create an international leader in cloud public sector compliance software. The business was acquired off-market following the recent acquisitions of the platform StarTraq in May 2023 and Farthest Gate in September 2023.”
Greg Walsh, Director at August Equity, commented:
“The business Luis and the team have built over 20 years is exceptional and delivers mission critical services to police forces. We are looking forward to working with him and the rest of the Chronicle team.”
Led by FTV Capital, with participation from NVIDIA and existing investors, funding will further solidify Kore.ai’s leading position in explosive advanced AI market
ORLANDO, Fla., January 30, 2024 — Kore.ai, a leader in enterprise conversational and generative AI platform technology, today announced $150 million in funding. The strategic growth investment was led by FTV Capital, a sector-focused growth equity investor with a successful 25+ year track record investing across enterprise technology, along with participation from NVIDIA and existing investors such as Vistara Growth, Sweetwater PE, NextEquity, Nicola and Beedie. The new funding will accelerate Kore.ai’s market expansion and continuous innovation in AI to deliver tangible business and human value at scale.
Poised to seize market momentum around putting AI to work
The AI market has seen rapid growth and disruption driven by advancements in technology and shifting user expectations. Gartner estimates the conversational AI market to reach $377 billion in revenue by 2032, up from $66 billion in 2023. This reflects an exponential demand for enhanced customer experiences, streamlined business operations and innovative GenAI applications addressing specific business tasks.
Kore.ai provides an enterprise-grade no-code platform to help companies of all sizes power business interactions with AI safely and responsibly while driving significant revenue and cost savings. From conversational virtual assistants to generative AI (Gen AI) applications, Kore.ai’s differentiated platform offers purpose-built workflows, highly configurable tools and a flexible, open architecture that are recognized as the leading approach by customers and analysts. This gives teams the ability to craft custom solutions or deploy pre-built, domain-trained virtual assistants across multiple industries such as banking, healthcare and retail and across a variety of functional roles such as IT, HR and others, to accelerate time-to-value.
“We have been working with advanced AI for a decade now – our deep technology expertise and market understanding put us in a prime position to take advantage of the momentum and to do AI right in order to meet growing customer needs,” said Raj Koneru, founder and CEO of Kore.ai. “Sitting above the infrastructure layer and LLM chaos, our open approach grants businesses freedom of choice with built-in guardrails for effective AI implementation. As we look to enhance our Gen AI-powered innovations and drive wider adoption across a variety of market segments, we are pleased to have the backing of FTV Capital, a firm that has significant experience in our space and invaluable connections across the enterprise to augment our exciting growth trajectory.”
“We’ve spent significant time examining the landscape and evaluating advanced-AI platforms, and Kore.ai clearly stood out with its proven enterprise-grade platform capabilities, visionary leadership, strong R&D focus, established global customer base and clear path to profitability,” said Kapil Venkatachalam, partner at FTV Capital. “We’re excited to partner with such an experienced and high-caliber team that consistently delivers world-class innovations, and we look forward to leveraging our deep knowledge and network to catalyze Kore.ai’s success.”
Market understanding and expertise across diverse use cases
Today, several Fortune 2000 companies across a variety of industry verticals leverage Kore.ai to enhance their customer, employee and contact center agent experiences and drive measurable ROI. Customers include leading financial institutions, such as PNC Bank and large global banks, as well as major brands such as AT&T, Cigna, Coca-Cola, Airbus and Roche.
Over the past several years Kore.ai has consistently demonstrated triple-digit year-over-year growth in revenues. The company automates 450 million interactions a day for about 200 million consumers and two million enterprise users worldwide. In addition to domestic growth, Kore.ai’s growth has been fueled by rising demand from emerging markets in Asia Pacific, Europe, LatAm and the Middle East. As a result, Kore.ai has added new Global 2000 enterprise customers across major verticals.
Kore.ai has been recognized as a leader and an innovator by top analysts, including being named a leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Conversational Al Platforms twice in a row.
About Kore.ai
Kore.ai is a leading provider of advanced AI technology with a decade of experience in helping enterprises realize business value through the safe and responsible use of AI. The company’s innovative platform, no-code tools and solutions are used to deliver end-to-end customer and employee experiences from automated to human assisted and to build generative AI enabled applications. Kore.ai takes an open approach allowing companies to choose the LLMs and infrastructure that best meet their business needs. Trusted by over 200 partners and 400 Fortune 2000 companies, Kore.ai helps them navigate their AI strategy. The company has a strong patent portfolio in the AI space and has been recognized as a leader and an innovator by top analysts. Headquartered in Orlando Kore.ai has a network of offices to support customers including in India, the UK, Middle East, Japan, South Korea, and Europe. Visit Kore.ai to learn more.
About FTV Capital
FTV Capital is a sector-focused growth equity investment firm that has raised $6.2 billion to invest in high-growth companies offering a range of innovative solutions in three sectors: enterprise technology and services, financial services, and payments and transaction processing. FTV’s experienced team leverages its domain expertise and proven track record in each of these sectors to help motivated management teams accelerate growth. FTV also provides companies with access to its Global Partner Network®, a group of the world’s leading enterprises and executives who have helped FTV portfolio companies for two decades. Founded in 1998, FTV Capital has invested in 140 portfolio companies, including Agiloft, BillingPlatform, EBANX, Lean Solutions Group, LogicSource, Neptune Flood Insurance, Patra, PlateIQ, ReliaQuest and Vagaro, and successfully exited/partially exited companies including Enfusion (NYSE: ENFN), Globant (NYSE: GLOB), InvestCloud (recapitalized), RapidRatings (recapitalized), Strata Fund Solutions (acquired by Alter Domus), VPay (acquired by Optum) and WorldFirst (acquired by Ant Financial). FTV has offices in San Francisco, New York, Connecticut and London. For more information, please visit www.ftvcapital.com and follow the firm on LinkedIn.
SmartSD (www.SmartSD.com), a leading value-add distributor of security solutions, announces, together with its current financial partner Smile Invest and management, a new strategic partnership with Cobepa, a leading European private equity company. This partnership underscores SmartSD’s commitment to its vendor partners, clients and team, with Cobepa actively supporting its long-term development strategy centred on continued organic growth, unlocking M&A opportunities, digital leadership and the ambition to become the Pan-European market leader.
SmartSD views Cobepa as more than just an investor; it’s a strategic partner that mirrors its culture, values and mission, bringing vast experience and expertise to the table to continue SmartSD’s growth story. This partnership aims not just to secure the company’s future but also to foster the growth of its dedicated employee base.
SmartSD’s longstanding stakeholders — the co-founders, management team, as well as Smile Invest — remain fully (and financially) committed for this next growth phase alongside Cobepa, who takes a majority stake. Together, they aim to support SmartSD in further building out its European footprint both organically and through M&A, strengthening the digital platform, enhance offerings and services and continue being the partner of choice for SmartSD’s customers.
SmartSD and its shareholders were advised by Rothschild & Co (financial advisor).
Stefan Schreurs – Co-founder and sales manager, SmartSD
“The interest shown by a highly reputable private equity firm like Cobepa in SmartSD is a testament to what we have achieved with SmartSD until today, our drive for excellence, our adherence to strong company values and the pivotal role of our passionate people. The continued support of our vendor partners has been key to our growth over the past years, whilst the trust our customers have shown in us has been integral to our success; our dedication remains in providing them with a superior experience and continue offering them our comprehensive range of products and services. We thank Smile Invest for their support over the past few years and very much look forward to the next stage of our successful journey together.”
Jean-Marie Laurent Josi – CEO, Cobepa
“We are thrilled to support SmartSD which puts digital technology, vendor value creation and superior customer experience at its core. We look forward to writing the next exciting chapter in SmartSD’s growth journey together with its founder-led management team and Smile Invest.”
Bart Cauberghe – Managing Partner, Smile Invest
“It has been a privilege to support as a majority shareholder SmartSD’s outstanding team on their growth trajectory over the past 5 years with the entry into the French market and developing the most advanced digital platform in the security value added distribution industry. We welcome a like-minded shareholder which will undoubtedly strengthen our collective ambition. SmartSD’s success has always revolved around a deep-rooted commitment to values, innovation, and most importantly, its customers. Together with SmartSD’s management team and Cobepa, we aim to achieve new milestones and further SmartSD’s success.”
SmartSD (www.smartsd.com)
SmartSD is a value-add e-commerce distributor of security systems, offering products and services through its advanced digital platform in the areas of video surveillance, burglary protection, fire protection as well as access monitoring. SmartSD has partnerships with a wide range of best-in-class, third-party brands for which the company subsequently distributes products and related services to customers, predominantly serving professional installers and integrators, across the Benelux and France. Additionally, SmartSD also offers training and technical services to its customers, where installers learn about the products and services supplied. SmartSD was established in 2008 and is headquartered in Breda (NL) with additional offices in Merchtem (BE), Paris (FR) and Toulouse. The company employs c.110 FTEs.
Smile Invest (www.smile-invest.com)
Smile Invest (Smart Money for Innovation Leaders) is a European evergreen investment firm with ca. €500m of assets under management, financed by 40 entrepreneurial families and with a long-term focus on innovative growth companies. Smile Invest focuses on companies active in three investment themes: digitalization, healthcare and sustainability. Since its inception in 2017 Smile Invest has built a portfolio of 15 companies. From its offices in Leuven and The Hague, the team supports ambitious entrepreneurs and management teams in realizing their growth plans.
Cobepa (www.cobepa.com)
Based in Brussels and established in 1957, Cobepa is a well-recognised private equity investor, with over €4.4bn net asset value. Cobepa has a track record of strong cooperation with the management teams of its portfolio companies and in partnership with co-investors it aims to enhance the growth perspectives of its investments as well as the sustainability of their business models. In the last 20 years, Cobepa has completed almost 100 transactions; it currently holds 19 other portfolio companies across a variety of sectors including business services, financial services, healthcare and industrials. Cobepa works with a team of ~50 professional investors across offices in Brussels, Munich and New York.
