Tag Archives: Hampleton Partners

Acquisitions & Partnerships, News

Hampleton Partners advises akquinet enterprise solutions GmbH on its acquisition by Pathlock backed by Vertica Capital Partners

London, UK – 18 May 2022 – Hampleton Partners, the international M&A and corporate finance advisory firm for technology companies, has advised akquinet enterprise solutions GmbH, a leading provider of SAP cybersecurity & access governance software, on its acquisition by Pathlock backed by New York-based Vertica Capital Partners, a growth-oriented private equity investor with a focus on the software sector.

akquinet’s SAST SOLUTIONS software suite, consulting experts and managed services provide all-round protection for classic SAP systems as well as S/4HANA. The SAST software suite is a holistic software solution for real-time monitoring of SAP systems and provides protection against compliance violations, data loss and cybersecurity attacks. SAST SOLUTIONS targets national SMEs as well as international blue-chip customers across a wide range of industries.

The acquisition is backed by Vertica Capital Partners, an experienced software investor with an existing cybersecurity portfolio, and will create an international player in the field of application security software.

Bodo Kahl, managing director of akquinet enterprise solutions GmbH, said: “With its many years of experience and sector expertise, Hampleton acted as a trusted and competent partner at our side from the very start. It was particularly important for us to select a partner who understood the aspects of cybersecurity and the value of SAST SOLUTIONS to actively support us in the process with Vertica Capital Partners. In working with Hampleton, we found Vertica Capital Partners to be the ideal partner for the future of akquinet enterprise solutions GmbH.”

Axel Brill, director at Hampleton, commented: “We are delighted to have worked with akquinet enterprise solutions GmbH to shape the continuation of its successful business model. Vertica Capital Partners’ acquisition will empower the SAST product portfolio to enter extremely interesting markets beyond the DACH region.”

Following the acquisition of DOCUFY GmbH to Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, Tradebyte Software GmbH to Zalando, CPU 24/7 to IAV and the acquisition of FAST LTA by Afinum, this transaction represents a further milestone in the German-speaking market and is further evidence of Hampleton’s M&A expertise in the technology sector, where more than 100 mandates have been completed to date.

The engagement was led by Axel Brill and Henrik Jeberg.

Healthcare Tech, News

‘Digital health’ investments surged by 79 per cent in 2021, says Hampleton Partners’ Healthtech Report

  • Mental health and wellness; medical imaging and AI-based diagnostic software; and clinical trials technology proved most attractive to investors

London, UK – 21 April 2022. Hampleton Partners’ latest Healthtech M&A Market Report highlights how the Covid-19 pandemic revealed the inadequacies and opportunities in the world’s healthcare systems and how venture and growth capital poured into digital health companies, raising a total of $57.2 billion in funding in 2021, an increase of 79 per cent from 2020.

David Bell, director, Hampleton Partners, said: “Though the new investment has been significantly concentrated around telemedicine due to the pandemic, venture capital is increasingly diversifying its healthtech targets, with AI-based clinical decision software and digital therapeutics being key areas.

“We also found that Europe was a hot spot for investment with funding rounds significantly exceeding the global average, with a 131 per cent increase to $6.7 billion in total investment from 2020 to 2021. European digital health funding now accounts for around 12 per cent of global investment, up from 9 per cent in 2020.”

In terms of M&A, across the whole healthtech sector, there were 601 acquisitions in 2021, up 13 per cent from 2020 and up 40 per cent from 2019. Ten healthtech deals closed at over $1 billion during 2021.

Mental health & wellness tech

The impact of the pandemic on individual mental health has been felt across the world. During this period, investment in mental health-related technologies reached $5.5 billion in 2021, rising 139 per cent since 2020.

Illustrative deals in Europe include UK-based Ieso’s $53 million Series B raise in November 2021 from VCs and CVCs including Morningside Technology Ventures, Molten Ventures, and Sony Innovation Fund. Ieso provides online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).

In March 2021, US-based Ginger, a provider of on-demand mental health therapy, raised a $100 million Series E round led by Blackstone, before merging with guided meditation app Headspace.

Medical imaging & AI diagnostics software

Advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) have an increasingly broad application to productivity and diagnostics, including staffing productivity and imaging interpretation efficiency. Investment from VCs and CVCs has more than doubled from under $300 million in 2017 to $700 million in 2021.

PathAI, a provider of AI-powered technology tools to rapidly and accurately diagnose patients through biomarker analysis, as well as drug development, raised $255 million between their seed round in December 2016 and their latest Series C found in May 2021.

Clinical trials technology

The pandemic massively disrupted the traditional clinical trial model, in turn stalling drug development. This catalysed the need for innovation within the clinical trials process and investors have responded by targeting technologies that improve recruitment and participation.

This sub-sector has seen a rise in investment of 53 per cent from $1.8 billion in 2020 to $2.7 billion in 2021. Examples include California-based Medable, which provides a platform aimed at simplifying the clinical trial process, raised funds twice in 2021; a $78 million Series C and $304 million Series D, taking total investment to $507 million since 2015.

Meanwhile, Teckro, an Irish platform provider aiming to improve clinical trial participant enrollment, raised $25 million in a Series D round in November 2021. The firm has raised a total of $66 million, with investment from Northpond Ventures and Sands Capital.

Healthtech M&A 2022

Hampleton Partners anticipates that on the clinical side, companies specialising in disease tracking and testing, biopharmaceutical research and medical supplies are increasing their technology-based preparedness to take advantage of interoperability, virtual health, cloud-based platforms, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies.

On the patient side, a growing number of healthtech companies are focused on telemedicine, fitness, wellness, mental health, smart-foods, and personalised, at home health monitoring. While using telemedicine may have once been a niche personal preference, Covid-19 has made this mainstream.

David Bell said: “This backdrop has led to increasingly significant capital raising and M&A consolidation, especially as the enterprise healthtech market alone is projected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2025 and is showing no signs of slowing down.

“We anticipate overall sector volumes to be sustained during 2022, with valuations metrics in vertical software and precision medicine and online health to retain current levels due to their increasing importance within healthcare productivity and diagnosis.

“Given the surge in European health tech funding during 2021, year on year growth in funding for 2022 is likely to be lower than 2021, but we anticipate deal volume will increase.

“Ultimately, healthtech is benefitting from adoption and digitisation during COVID. In Europe and the US, it is an increasingly important investor asset class.”

Largest disclosed healthtech deals of 2021

The top three deals by disclosed deal value were:

  • $30.0 billion – Data to Decision AG acquired MEDIQON GmbH, a provider of software solutions to manage and analyse data for making informed healthcare sector decisions
  • $28.3 billion – Oracle acquired Cerner Corp, a provider of healthcare practice management software and SaaS, for 5.2x revenue and 21.4x EBITDA
  • $19.7 billion – Microsoft acquired Nuance Communications, a provider of AI-enabled desktop and mobile interactive voice response and automation SaaS, for13.6x revenue and 72.6x EBITDA
FInance, News

Enterprise Software M&A Soars ‘Post-Pandemic’ With 1,629 Deals And $114 Billion In Transaction Value, Says Hampleton Partners’ Report

  • 2H 2021 saw 21 transactions closing at over $1bn
  • Private equity buyers’ share of deals grew from 33 per cent in 2019 to 41 per cent in 2021
  • Hospitality management software vertical sector saw upturn

London, UK – 22 February 2022. The latest Enterprise Software M&A report from Hampleton Partners, the international M&A and corporate finance advisory firm for technology companies, reveals that transaction volume grew 12 per cent between 2020 and 2021, from 1,450 deals to 1,629 deals in 2021. Total disclosed transaction value amounted to $114 billion, the second highest on record.

Hampleton’s report also registered that Enterprise Software deals are growing larger, with a total of 21 transactions closing at over $1 billion in the second half of 2021.

Additionally, the half-year saw median valuation multiples increase sharply: the trailing 30-month revenue multiple grew to 5x, while the corresponding EBITDA multiple shot back up to 16.3x, matching pre-pandemic levels.

Miro Parizek, founder and principal partner, Hampleton Partners, said: “The Enterprise Software M&A market is currently on a bull run, and for a host of reasons. Strong sector trends continue to underpin the adoption of software across the board, driving Enterprise Software demand.

“In addition, many software business models offer opportunity for both growth- and profit-focused investors. SaaS licenses deliver sustainable recurring revenues, and younger, high-growth software firms can be spun off into new markets.”

Private equity share of deals continues to rise

There has been a clear, increasing trend in the share of private equity-led deals in the Enterprise Software sector. In 2021 around 41 per cent of all deals were driven by a financial buyer, up from 33 per cent in 2019.

PEs appear to be broadening their reach to include a wider variety of technologies than in 2020 – although their preference for healthcare and education technology has not subsided. With a suspected $1.3 trillion in dry powder held by private equity funds across the world, Hampleton expects this share to hold or grow in the next quarters.

Returning confidence in hospitality

Miro Parizek said: “Hospitality was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, so M&A activity in this field slowed in 2020. In 2021, with the introduction of vaccines and easing of many restrictions, consumer demand for travel and leisure is on the rise and investor confidence in the hotel and restaurant management software vertical sector saw an upturn.”

In August 2021, ASG, a portfolio company of Alpine Investors, acquired ALICE, an all-in-one hospitality operations management platform. In December 2021, MCR Acquired Optii Solutions, a provider of AI-based data-driven hotel operations management and housekeeping SaaS.

In another such deal, Agilsys, a hospitality POS & management SaaS company, acquired ResortSuite, a provider of resort and hotel management SaaS and related mobile applications for $25 million.

The future of Enterprise Software M&A

Miro Parizek continued: “The year 2021 ended with a huge wave of activity both in volume and value. 2022 has begun on a similarly bullish track. Financial buyers armed with large amounts of dry powder account for almost half of all Enterprise Software M&A. Meanwhile, we have seen prolific acquirers pursue their acquisition sprees. On both the financial and strategic acquirer side, we see no slowdown of these trends in the near future.”

Hampleton’s Enterprise Software M&A Report analyses transactions, trends and activity across the Business Intelligence & Customer Analytics; Design, Testing & Simulation; Enterprise Applications; Information Management; Infrastructure Management and Vertical Applications segments of the sector.

Download the full Hampleton Partners’ Enterprise Software M&A Market Report 1H2022:

https://www.hampletonpartners.com/reports/enterprise-software-report/

Electric Vehicles, News

Electric vehicles and charging stations are engines of growth as Autotech M&A holds steady during Covid – Hampleton Partners’ report

London, UK – 16 February 2022. The latest Autotech & Mobility M&A Market Report from Hampleton Partners, the international M&A and corporate finance advisory firm for technology companies, reveals that the appetite for Autotech & Mobility deals has remained consistent despite the impact of Covid disruption, the global semiconductor shortage and supply chain issues. Hampleton recorded 46 deals in the second half of 2021 and a total of 97 across the whole year, in line with previous years.

Valuation multiples also showed a reliable trend development on both a revenue and EBITDA basis: the trailing 30-month median revenue multiple increased and came in at 3.2x, while the corresponding EBITDA multiple has remained steady at 11.8x.

Electric vehicles and charging stations

Michel Annink, director, Hampleton Partners, said: “As EV sales take off, demand for charging solutions is exploding. Forecasts predict that EV charging will be a €36 billion market in Europe for passenger cars alone in 2030.

“New revenue pools are emerging within EV charging, including recurring revenues from mobility services and payments, operations and energy management and asset ownership and electricity representing the lion’s share of this market.”

Key 2021 deals included Chargepoint’s acquisition of ViriCiti, a provider of electrification solutions for eBus and commercial fleets, for $88 million, and EVgo’s acquisition of PlugShare, an e-mobility software company for $25 million.

Electrification of the passenger car market reached a tipping point in December, when Europe recorded more EV than diesel sales for the first time in history and annual diesel sales dropped by more than 50 per cent.

The future of M&A in the Autotech & Mobility sector

Michel Annink continued: “Despite continuous pandemic-related market challenges, Autotech M&A activity remained strong in 2021. The year saw the largest Autotech & Mobility M&A transaction since 2017, Qualcomm’s $4.5 billion acquisition of Swedish ADAS technology provider Veoneer, and other major deals including Toyota’s acquisition of Lyft’s self-driving division for $550 million.

“As for the future, there is great promise for the many companies that are already or could become active in the public EV charging market, such as infrastructure companies, charging equipment manufacturers, companies that install or maintain public charging points, charging station operators, site owners and providers of charging software that offer apps for payment and location search.

“We believe that 2022 will be a year of increased M&A activity in the industry as the automotive sector undergoes mass reinvention, with carmakers scrambling to seize upon the vast growth of EVs and autonomy. Across the board, we expect continued activity and robust valuations in the sector.”

Hampleton’s Autotech & Mobility M&A Report analyses transactions, trends and activity across the Enterprise Applications, Internet Commerce & Content, Embedded Software & Systems, and Mobility & Fleet Management segments of the sector.

Download the full Hampleton Partners’ Autotech & Mobility M&A Market Report 1H2022:

https://www.hampletonpartners.com/reports/autotech-report/

FInance, News

Hampleton Partners advises Apostera on its acquisition by HARMAN

Munich, Germany, and Novi, Mich. – 15 February 2022. Hampleton Partners, the international M&A and corporate finance advisory firm for technology companies, has advised Apostera, the market-leading provider of AR/MR technology for the automotive industry, on its acquisition by HARMAN International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. focused on connected technologies for automotive, consumer and enterprise markets.

Apostera’s augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) software solutions will expand HARMAN’s automotive product offerings and position the company at the forefront of automotive AR/MR experience design. Apostera’s mixed reality solution combines Augmented Reality, Machine Learning, Computer Vision, and sensor fusion in a hardware-agnostic software platform. Combined with HARMAN’s digital cockpit product portfolio, these new software solutions will bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds.

Andrey Golubinskiy, CEO of Apostera, said: “Hampleton has a well-established track record in autotech advisory, and as soon as we spoke, it was clear they understood our tech stack and where we slot into today’s, and tomorrow’s, automotive value chain. The Hampleton team ran a structured process that resulted in a tie-up with the perfect partner who shared a common strategic vision. By joining forces with HARMAN, we will be able to deploy faster, at greater scale and across a greater breadth of automotive applications, looking keenly ahead as part of a globally recognized, trusted automotive brand.”

Miro Parizek, principal partner and founder at Hampleton, commented: “Mixed reality is at a critical point in the automotive industry. Apostera is at the forefront of a technology that – even just a few short years ago – was purely at the proof-of-concept stage. Now, Apostera is the frontrunner in commercially validated automotive MR applications that are increasingly being deployed at scale in series production by global OEMs.”

The transaction represents another milestone in Hampleton’s leading autotech coverage, following the strategic advisory to Charge-Amps, the sales of 2getthere and Simi to ZF Friedrichshafen, and the sale of VI-grade to Spectris plc.

Miro Parizek added: “We are proud to have advised on this exciting combination between a cutting-edge European automotive start-up and the worldwide leader in vehicle display solutions. The Apostera team has built a game-changing technology, and I look forward to seeing them achieve even greater heights together with HARMAN International.”

The engagement was led by Miro Parizek, with Nicholas Milligan and Tim Stemkens supporting the transaction at Hampleton.

 

Business, News

Hampleton Partners advises Shopware on its USD 100 million growth capital raise from Carlyle and PayPal

Schöppingen, Frankfurt and London – 9 February 2022. Hampleton Partners, the international M&A and corporate finance advisory firm for technology companies, has advised shopware AG, a leading digital commerce software solutions provider in the DACH region, on its USD 100 million growth capital round from global investment firm Carlyle and PayPal, the global payments and commerce platform.

Headquartered in Schöppingen and led by brothers Sebastian and Stefan Hamann, Shopware offers a holistic omnichannel digital commerce platform that is highly flexible and has a rich set of features, supporting complex B2C, D2C, B2B and services-driven business models. Shopware’s technology is API-first and uses an open-source architecture, allowing merchants to scale while creating unique customer experiences. Its platform caters to a highly diversified customer base across a wide range of different industry verticals, focused on sophisticated mid-market merchants but also serving multinational market leaders including Philips, Jägermeister and Aston Martin. In 2021, Shopware approached a platform gross merchandise value (GMV) of USD 20 billion. Following the successful rollout of Shopware 6, the company was listed in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce. Recent product innovations have positioned the company as a leader in the expanding digital commerce software market for mid-market merchants in DACH.

Founders Sebastian and Stefan Hamann will retain a significant majority stake in the business and remain co-CEOs of the company. Carlyle and PayPal’s growth capital will help drive Shopware’s international expansion and the development of new products.

Stefan Hamann, co-CEO of Shopware, said: “This funding will help us supercharge our international growth – enabling Shopware to capture the significant opportunities ahead of us. Working with Hampleton: it was clear that the team understood the digital commerce software ecosystem and its key drivers at this critical moment in the market. Armed with that expertise, we were able to find the perfect partners in Carlyle and PayPal to execute on our shared strategic vision.”

Co-CEO Sebastian Hamman said: “The past few years have accelerated the need for an open-source approach that provides outstanding shopping experiences for customers, and we are poised to further benefit from this growth opportunity. We’re looking forward to working with Carlyle and PayPal and are grateful to be embarking on this journey after a structured process that allowed us to choose between several excellent options.”

Dr. Jan Eiben, managing director at Hampleton, commented: “Digital commerce is at an inflection point, not least due to the myriad new business models that are increasingly demanded by the market, from SMEs through to enterprise customers. With its flexible, open-source approach, Shopware is optimally positioned to serve evolving customer needs across all channels and business models to become an international leader in digital commerce technology. Stefan and Sebastian have built a pioneering, ambitious company and we look forward to the next stage of their journey that they will embark on with globally leading growth partners.”

The transaction represents another milestone in Hampleton’s leading digital commerce coverage, coming on the heels of Hampleton’s advisory of e-commerce personalization AI provider Loop54 on its sale to FACT-Finder, as well as the buyout of virtual queueing platform Queue-it by GRO Capital.

Miro Parizek, principal partner and founder at Hampleton added: “We are proud to have advised on this exciting combination between a cutting-edge European digital commerce player and two respected global investors and experts in commerce solutions. Stefan and Sebastian have built a game-changing technology, and I look forward to seeing them achieve even greater heights following this investment from Carlyle and PayPal.”

The engagement was led by Dr. Jan Eiben, Miro Parizek and Ralph Hübner, with Nicholas Milligan and Tim Stemkens supporting the transaction at Hampleton.

 

Acquisitions & Partnerships, Business, IT Services, Mergers & Acquisitions

Digitalisation of global business helps turbocharge IT & Business Services M&A, says Hampleton Partners’ report

London, UK – 3 February 2022. The latest IT & Business Services M&A market report from Hampleton Partners, the international technology mergers and acquisitions advisor, reveals a 23 per cent increase in the number of M&A transactions in the second-half of 2021 compared to 2H2020 – 538 deals compared to 437.

As for the whole year, 902 deals were recorded in 2021 compared to 818 deals in 2020, a 10 per cent increase in the number of M&A transactions between 2020 and 2021.

Hampleton’s report identifies several key sector trends, including: the role of private equity players accounting for 35 per cent of all transactions over the past 30 months, and financial acquirers paying out higher EBITDA at 10.3x compared to 8.4x for their strategic counterparts.

Miro Parizek, founder & principal partner, Hampleton Partners, said: “Global IT services spending is anticipated to continue strongly in 2022 after the astronomical increases seen in 2021. We are now wholly familiar with the idea that the changes in workforce behaviour towards remote and hybrid models catalysed digitalisation. The divergence from traditional, pre-pandemic work environments instilled greater demand for cloud-based services to replace legacy, on-site infrastructure. Firms are being forced to respond to this reorientation by increasing investment and IT budgets. This has turbo-charged M&A activity in the sector.”

Top acquirers still strong in 2H2021
Prolific acquirer, Accenture, continued its acquisition spree in 2H2021, acquiring a further 20 companies in the six months to December. The company’s acquisitions in 2H2021 fell into three categories: firstly, firms operating within an IT vendor ecosystem such as Microsoft, SAP, Salesforce, or AWS; secondly, IT consultancies focused on horizontal technologies such as cybersecurity; and finally, consultancies catering to specific verticals such as manufacturing and digital commerce.

Professional services firms continue to make the most acquisitions overall, with notable activity from Accenture and Deloitte who are looking to serve all new client needs in the cloud.

Top two acquirers over the past 30-month period and their three latest acquisitions 

Accenture – 84 acquisitions
Headspring LLC software & consulting services
Tambourine Inc. Salesforce-based e-commerce SaaS development
ClearEdge Partners Inc. outsourced services

Presidio – 17 acquisitions
Arkphire Ireland Ltd. [dba Arkphire] Irish IT services
Coda Global LLC cloud consulting & managed IT services
Home Theater Technologies smart systems integrator

IT & Business Services M&A 2022
Miro Parizek, said: “The increase in deal volume perhaps comes as verticals dependent on the expertise provided by the IT Services market reach an inflexion point: adapt to the reorientation in market drivers or fall by the wayside.

“In 2022, we anticipate that transaction volume in the sector will plateau and that valuation metrics will either remain stable or continue their upwards trajectory in the case of EV/EBITDA.”

Hampleton’s IT & Business Services M&A report analyses transactions, trends and activity across the Integration, Technology and Support Services segments as well as IT Outsourcing.

Download the full Hampleton Partners’ IT & Business Services M&A Market Report 1H2022:
https://www.hampletonpartners.com/reports/it-business-services-report/