Norway houses one of the biggest Spanish software startup buyers, although not well known beyond the niche niche.
With five acquisitions since 2021 and more than 250 million euros invested in Spain, Visma has become a fundamental actor in the national technology and entrepreneuraccording to a long analysis of EcoTechers.
Operational independence as a management model
The Nordic giant broke into the Spanish market in 2021 with The acquisition of HoldedBarcelona business management software, which disbursed more than 190 million euros. Since then, has incorporated to declaring, woffu, quaderno and, The most recent, Tugesto, A Valencian startup that was participated by Angels, Juan Roig’s investment society, president of Mercadona.
“I would expect something more this year for own ambition and project ambition. 2025 and 2026 are going to be years of many outings of Private Equity who entered the year 2021 and 2022. We are already beginning to see movements, “says Miguel García-Paredes, responsible for mergers and acquisitions for Spain and Portugal of Visma, according to EcoTechers.
The most striking of its strategy is that, unlike other corporate buyers, Visma maintains companies acquired as independent entities, retaining their brands and management teams. “The idea of visma is to set up an ecosystem rather than also from entrepreneurs and conserve the entrepreneur,” said García-Paredes.
This philosophy was evident after the recent purchase of Tugesto. As reports The economist“It will continue to operate as an independent company under the same name and address.”
Manuel Fandos, CEO of Tugesto, said That this union represents “a unique opportunity to revolutionize business management together, especially in a market such as payroll software, where much remains to be achieved and innovate in Spain.”
Who is visma: the discreet multinational
Founded in 1996 by merger It was privatized by the HG capital fund. Currently, its shareholding is distributed mainly between HG Capital (70%) and the Sustain Fund of Singapore GIC (14%).
The company has closed the year 2024 with 2.8 billion euros of income, a growth of 17%, and 893 million EBITDA (+26.6%)according to data provided to EcoTechers. In Spain, where it has more than 400 employees, it hopes to reach 60 million billing this year.
“Spain is one of the highest growth for visma,” said Merete Hverven, CEO of the group, to The economist In 2023. “From our landing in 2021, we grow at a rate of 70%.”
Visma has perfected its acquisition strategy after More than 373 completed operations worldwide. Only between 2023 and 2024 closed more than 70 purchases. In Spain, its focus is on SME -centered software startupsan easy pattern to detect seeing your history.
According to García-Paredes, they look for companies that meet or approach the “40 rule” for software, that is, the sum of the percentage of income in income and the Ebitda margin is equal to or greater than 40.
The company, which has a presence in 27 countries in Europe and Latin America, sees in Spain a strategic market for its size – almost 50 million inhabitants – and for the “growing advance of digitalization”, factors that predict that there will be more acquisitions in the future.
Outstanding image | VISMA
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