Investcorp Technology Partners (ITP), a unit of Bahrain-based Investcorp and a leading technology investor in Europe, announced that it has finalised the sale of softgarden e-recruiting to Grupa Pracuj, a leading HR technology company in Europe. softgarden e-recruiting is a leading provider of unique HR software solutions, while Grupa Pracuj is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
According to a statement from Investcorp, the transaction is expected to be complete soon, and will culminate in an ROI of over 3 times the invested capital in less than four years.
Softgarden, based in Berlin, provides mid-market and enterprise customers across Europe with a unique and innovative recruitment software platform. The platform’s award-winning Talent Acquisition Suite allows customers to manage and streamline their complete digital recruitment process in an integrated and efficient manner, fully compliant with data privacy requirements.
In addition to these features, the company’s customers also have access to a multitude of integrated job boards.
Softgarden strategically acquired absence.io in 2021, and as a result, broadened its product scope to include vacation and absence management, time-tracking and digital personnel file management.
Investcorp accelerated growth of softgarden
ITP had acquired softgarden in 2018 as part of its ITP Fund IV, and in association with the CEO and management team, accelerated growth through international expansion, strategic acquisitions and investments in product innovation as part of its market-ready strategy.
ITP, in collaboration with the management team of softgarden, oversaw revenue acceleration of the company including a massive 400 percent growth in software revenue, and entry into new markets like Poland, France and Spain. The employee count of the company also doubled during this period.
Georg Knoflach, Managing Director of ITP stated that the company was proud of the successful sale of softgarden, and further said that the investment demonstrated a successful strategy of driving value, executing M&A, and internationalisation of the business model.
He also said that he was confident that softgarden would continue to grow based on its strong foundations.
CEO of softgarden, Mathias Heese, stated that the company could not have had a better partner than ITP, and that the association had supported its growth and enabled it to deliver the best results for clients. He also said that the company looked forward to a promising future with Grupa Pracuj.
Following the sale of Avira to Norton LifeLock, the softgarden sale marked ITP’s second successful exit within 18 months.
Investcorp Technology Partners was advised by Covington & Burling, Deloitte and Kuhn & Partner. Grupa Pracuj was advised by Ebner Stolz, Houlihan Lokey and White & Case.
