ZURICH (Reuters) -A merger between French enterprise software program supplier LumApps and its Swiss peer Beekeeper will create a brand new unicorn value about $1.1 billion, the 2 corporations mentioned.
The deal introduced on Wednesday, which is because of full this month, is backed by British non-public fairness group Bridgepoint, which was beforehand a significant shareholder in LumApps and can maintain a majority stake within the new agency.
“Midterm, an IPO or a commerce sale are choices. With the U.S. and Europe being our core markets, each can be nice (IPO venue) candidates,” mentioned Beekeeper CEO Cristian Grossmann.
The brand new agency’s headquarters might be in Lyon, the house of LumApps, whose CEO Sebastien Ricard will lead the enterprise. It should have roughly 600 staff worldwide.
Unicorns are unlisted start-ups valued at no less than $1 billion. Such companies are comparatively uncommon in Europe.
LumApps makes software program that corporations use to run their intranets.
“We are attempting to reinforce and even change merchandise like Microsoft’s SharePoint,” mentioned Elie Melois, chief expertise officer of LumApps, which is utilized by the likes of Airbus and luxurious items group LVMH.
Whereas LumApps merchandise are primarily utilized by workplace employees, Beekeeper has an app that permits frontline workers to speak with the remainder of the corporate.
Beekeeper, based by graduates of ETH Zurich, counts Swiss retailer Coop and Heathrow airport amongst its purchasers.
Inside six months, the merged firm goals to introduce a unified platform.
Present income of round $150 million is predicted to double to round $300 million by 2030. LumApps already turns a revenue, and Beekeeper goals to interrupt even this 12 months. “The mixed group might be worthwhile from day one,” Melois mentioned.
(Reporting by Oliver Hirt, Writing by Dave Graham, Enhancing by Miranda Murray)
