Processing…
Success! You're on the list.
NEWSLETTER

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Europe startups: 10 major acquisitions which took place during sputtering economic times

Qonto-Penta-Founders
Image credits: Qonto

Deal-making all over the world is entering a tough phase due to factors such as inflation and the economic downturn. These have made the corporate board less interested in expanding via acquisitions. The waters for mergers and acquisitions have become murkier with the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

As per the Dealogic data, the value of announced deals has plunged 25.5% year this year and has hit $1 trillion so far worldwide. While the mergers and acquisitions in the US dropped by 40% in the second quarter of this fiscal year, they dropped by 10% in the Asia-Pacific region, it adds.

However, the only region that seems to be going steady in Europe. The deal-making in Europe has surged by 6.5% in the same quarter despite the region being more vulnerable than the other big economies in the world due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Reportedly, the private equity deals in Europe accounted for €58 billion in this quarter. Here, TFN has curated a list of European acquisitions made in recent months.

SDF acquired VitiBot

The French wine robot startup VitiBot founded by a father-son duo Dominique and Cedric Bache was acquired by European agricultural equipment manufacturer SDF in July. VitiBot specialises in the field of wine robotics. The two companies will join forces to develop and offer the market a range of innovative and high-performance solutions for a new, increasingly sustainable precision agriculture.

Ageras Group acquired Kontist

Last month, Ageras Group, a Danish provider of financial and accounting software, acquired Kontist, a Berlin-based neo-bank focused on the complex accounting and banking needs of Germany’s growing populations of microbusinesses and self-employed workers. Kontist was founded in 2016 by Christopher Plantener, Alexander Baatz, and Sebastian Galonska. Ageras will leverage Kontist’s technology to help us accelerate its services to self-employed and micro business owners in Europe and North America.

Qonto acquired Penta

German fintech Penta was acquired by European business finance solution unicorn Qonto. With this acquisition, Qonto will step towards its long-term ambition to become the finance solution of choice for one million European SMEs and freelancers by 2025. This acquisition will be a great opportunity for both Qonto and Penta as they share the same mission and business models. Penta was founded by Jessica Holzbach, Lav Odorovic and Luka Ivicevic in 2016 to help startups and SMEs save time and money on banking.

Xmedes acquired Ginger

Ximedes, a European software firm in the fintech and faretech sectors, has acquired Ginger, a leading Amsterdam-based payment platform provider. Ginger, founded in 2014 by Joachim de Boer and Roderick de Koning has been providing online payment solutions and fits the strategy of Ximedes. This acquisition strengthens the company’s ability to deliver end-to-end solutions to financial institutions by combining a SaaS-based payment solution with its existing software development capabilities.

ABC Fitness Solutions acquired Glofox

Dublin-based Glofox, a management fitness-focused software business was acquired by ABC Fitness Solutions for over €200 million. It was bought to aid ABC based in Little Rock, Arkansas, in expanding its global reach in the fitness sector. Glofox was founded by Anthony Kelly, Conor O’Loughlin, and Finn Hegarty in 2014 to help fitness entrepreneurs improve the health of people worldwide.

ResMed acquired Mementor

ResMed acquired a Leipzig-based company, Mementor, which builds digital medical products in the field of sleep medicine. The acquisition that was completed earlier this month will help ResMed strengthen its overall sleep portfolio in Germany with a digital solution targeted to cure insomnia. Mementor was founded by Alexander Rötger, Daniel Rotzetter, Jan Kühni, and Noah Lorenz in 2014, its solution is compliant with the EU’s data protection requirements under GDPR.

Komerční banks acquired Upvest

96% of Prague-based Upvest, which helps investors invest in the real estate sector in the form of debt financing was acquired by Komerční banka, its long-time backer. Founded in 2017 by Petr Volny and David Musil, Upvest provides crowdfunding for real estate projects and developments. This acquisition represents another big step towards fulfilling Komerční banka’s vision: the development of cooperation with innovative fintechs and startups.

Venturelab acquired Ava

Femtech health, based in Houston Venturelab and operating worldwide, announced the acquisition of Zurich-based medtech startup Ava in July. Ava was founded in 2014 by Pascal Koenig, Philipp Tholen, Peter Stein, and Lea von Bidder. It specialises in new developments in the field of medical technology related to reproductive health.

Density acquired Prevision.io

Last month, Density announced the acquisition of Paris-based data science company Prevision.io, founded by Florian Laroumagne, Nicolas Gaude, Pierre Nowak and Tuncay Isik in 2016. The acquisition will contribute its data science expertise to Density, which builds hardware and software to measure and optimise physical space. It comes at a time when Density is focusing on its global expansion.

Infosys acquired BASE

In July, Infosys signed an agreement to acquire Denmark-based BASE life science, leading technology and consulting firm in the life sciences industry. The deal is worth up to €110 million. Expected to close in the second quarter of FY23, the acquisition reaffirms Infosys’ commitment to help global life sciences companies realise business value from cloud-first digital platforms and data, to speed-up clinical trials and scale drug development, positively impacting lives and achieving better health outcomes.

Related Posts
Total
28
Share

Get daily funding news briefings in the tech world delivered right to your inbox.

Enter Your Email
join our newsletter. thank you