Main Capital Partners (“Main”) today announces the roll-out of an international software group that specialises in solutions for Governance, Risk and Compliance (“GRC”) processes. This strategic development comes after the acquisition of a majority stake in Swedish Blika Solutions (“Blika”) and the immediate addition of audimex in Germany as its first add-on portfolio company. The financial details for these transactions were not disclosed.
Blika, headquartered in Stockholm, represents the first Nordic platform investment from the Main Foundation I fund, which was launched in October 2021 targeting innovative, high-growth software companies.
Main will support the Group with further strengthening its position in Europe through a combination of organic growth, focused initially on partnerships as well as a selective buy-and-build strategy.
The acquisition of audimex marks the first strategic step of strengthening Blika’s international market footing as well as further expanding its product suite with complementary GRC functionalities. Blika is well known for its SaaS platform that focuses on legal, entity and tax management activities. audimex provides extensive audit and compliance management software.
In partnership, these companies will offer a comprehensive GRC-suite to both the DACH and Nordic markets. Blika already has a large client base comprising European and global multinationals including Fortune 500 companies. audimex services over 200 customers across the globe with a strong focus on the DACH region.
Blika has developed a modular, best-of-breed SaaS system which allows companies to monitor complex legal entity structures ensuring proper governance and compliance. This platform helps enterprises to comply with complex tax, legal and transfer pricing regulations such as DAC6 and IFRIC 23.
Peter Öhling, CEO at Blika, commented:
“We are very excited to enter this next phase of growth as we look to develop our company together with support from both Main and audimex. Our best-of-breed platform is internationally scalable and brings strong benefits to companies across the DACH region. With the support of Main, we aim to accelerate our growth internationally, starting with the German market. Through the addition of complementary services offered by audimex to our platform, we can add real value for our existing and future clients.”
Dr. Stefan Berchtold, Managing Director at audimex, added:
“We are delighted to partner with Blika and Main. After 20 years growing the company, this is a big strategic step for audimex. Having strong partners on our side means we now have the capability to grow and scale much faster, especially in Northern Europe. By partnering with Blika we can support our customers with a much broader portfolio offering.”
Increasing pressure to comply with complex international regulations
The GRC software sector faces an increasing pressure from companies to comply with complex international regulations and protocols. The entity management software market is predicted to grow by at least 17% per year until 2026. In tandem, the audit management software market, which automates and simplifies the auditing process is influenced by similar regulatory market trends and is expected to expand annually by 12% through to 2027.
Wessel Ploegmakers, Partner and co-Head of Nordic activity at Main, concludes:
“New market regulations such as country-to-country reporting and DAC6 have caused an increased demand for entity management systems to centralise their data and assist corporations throughout the entire compliance and reporting process. Main therefore views this market as a great playing field for Blika to establish a true European market leadership”
Since 1989 Blika has been a leading partner in supporting the digitalization of tax and legal departments of large multinationals, providing the digital infrastructure to achieve efficiency, increase quality and automate workflows. Blika is dedicated to supporting large and medium-sized groups with solutions for collecting, sorting, storing, analyzing, and presenting tax, legal, financial, and related information in a structured and searchable way. This knowledge is built into the solutions providing Blika’s customers with a unique value. Blika is headquartered in Stockholm with additional offices in Kalmar and Oskarshamn and employs 20 FTEs.
As a supplier and developer of complex business solutions for internal audit and compliance, audimex provides its customers all services from a single source. Within the last twenty years, audimex has become a global company that has been successfully maintaining its position on the market as a developer and provider of high-quality software solutions for internal audit. At its locations in Augsburg and Langen, audimexservices customers of all sizes and across all industries worldwide. audimex’s activities range from the development of software solutions for internal audit and compliance, support of the end user, and technical support after implementation to the complete hosting of the applications. audimex employs 45 FTEs.
Main Capital Partners
Main Capital Partners is a leading software investor in the Benelux, DACH and the Nordics. Main has almost 20 years of experience in strengthening software companies and works closely together with management teams of its portfolio companies as a strategic partner, in order to realise sustainable growth and build excellent software groups. Main counts over 45 employees and has offices in The Hague, Stockholm and Düsseldorf. As of October 2021, Main has over EUR2.2 billion of assets under management. Main has invested in more than 130 software companies to date. These companies have created jobs for approximately 4,000 employees.
