Bridgepoint acquires majority stake in LumApps for € 650 million

Lyon / Frank­furt / London — Bridge­point and LumApps have announ­ced the upco­ming invest­ment of Bridge­point Europe VII (“BE VII”), a leading mid-market invest­ment fund, in the next gene­ra­tion cloud-based intra­net commu­ni­ca­ti­ons solu­ti­ons provi­der. As part of the current tran­sac­tion, valued at USD 650 million, LumApps’ exis­ting inves­tors — Growth Equity from Gold­man Sachs Alter­na­ti­ves, Eura­zeo Growth, Bpifrance via its Large Venture Fund and IRIS — are selling their shares to Bridgepoint.

The foun­ders and manage­ment of LumApps will retain a signi­fi­cant stake in the company. The parties have agreed not to disc­lose further finan­cial details of the tran­sac­tion, which is expec­ted to close in July 2024 and is not subject to any condi­ti­ons precedent.

LumApps, head­quar­te­red near Lyon in France, is a cloud-based, social and colla­bo­ra­tive intra­net plat­form for compa­nies that supports employees in their work, commu­ni­ca­tion and colla­bo­ra­tion and thus increa­ses produc­ti­vity in the work­place. The company uses an AI-powered plat­form that inte­gra­tes with enter­prise soft­ware such as Google Workspace and Micro­soft 365, as well as hundreds of other busi­ness appli­ca­ti­ons and HR resour­ces such as Work­day, ServiceNow, Zoom, Sales­force, Box and SAP Success­Fac­tors. These appli­ca­ti­ons, data and infor­ma­tion are centra­li­zed on a single plat­form and serve as a so-called “digi­tal front door” for employees, who can access them via an AI conver­sa­tion interface.

LumApps curr­ently has more than five million users and around 700 custo­mers world­wide. The company is at the fore­front of the next-gene­ra­­tion intra­net market, which Bridge­point esti­ma­tes is growing by 15 percent annu­ally and is curr­ently worth an esti­ma­ted USD 9 billion. This growth is being driven by a signi­fi­cant move away from legacy and in-house systems, the need for a single plat­form to inte­grate dispa­rate appli­ca­ti­ons and an increased focus on employee enga­ge­ment and retention.

LumApps conti­nues to expand its presence in the employee expe­ri­ence indus­try by deve­lo­ping advan­ced features such as video and mobile, as well as inno­va­tive new products such as the Gen-AI Compa­n­ion and micro-lear­­ning solu­ti­ons. With world-class tech­no­logy and the ability to lead the market in inno­va­tion, LumApps has been able to expand its market share in all markets in which it opera­tes, inclu­ding the US, Western Europe and Japan.

Bridge­point will support LumApps in acce­le­ra­ting its inter­na­tio­nal expan­sion, with a focus on the US. At the same time, the company will conti­nue to invest in product deve­lo­p­ment to improve the employee expe­ri­ence through advan­ced AI and machine lear­ning tech­no­lo­gies, commer­cia­lize new products and conti­nue M&A activities.

Bridgepoint’s stra­te­gic invest­ment in LumApps builds on the company’s proven track record of support­ing soft­ware compa­nies that serve enter­prise custo­mers in expan­ding markets and have multi­ple levers to drive growth. Previous invest­ments include Kyriba, Fenergo, Calypso, eFront and Brevo.

This tran­sac­tion is the seventh acqui­si­tion by BE VII.

Sébas­tien Ricard, CEO of LumApps, said: “The stra­te­gic part­ner­ship with Bridge­point repres­ents a logi­cal and signi­fi­cant step in LumApps’ growth trajec­tory, follo­wing the successful comple­tion of our Series A, B and C finan­cings and the profi­ta­ble growth we have achie­ved. By ente­ring the next phase of the company’s deve­lo­p­ment, we want to acce­le­rate our growth and inno­va­tion in key areas of our busi­ness. This includes exten­ding our leader­ship in packa­ged intra­net solu­ti­ons and expan­ding into the broa­der employee expe­ri­ence market with AI-powered tools to offer the only solu­tion that deli­vers commu­ni­ca­tion, colla­bo­ra­tion and lear­ning on the same plat­form. With Bridge­point as a part­ner, we are well equip­ped to conti­nue inves­t­ing in inno­va­tion to actively shape the future of enga­ge­ment and colla­bo­ra­tion in the workplace.”

David Nicault, Part­ner, and Nadia Cid, Direc­tor at Bridge­pointsaid: “LumApps is a global market leader with world-class products and tech­no­lo­gies. This is under­pin­ned by an impres­sive growth rate that is double that of the market. With its strong French roots and an estab­lished presence in key markets such as the US and Japan, LumApps fits perfectly into Bridgepoint’s plat­form stra­tegy. We are deligh­ted to be able to support LumApps in its global growth with our strong Euro­pean presence and indus­try exper­tise to help the company achieve its goal of beco­ming the leading employee expe­ri­ence platform. ”

Benoist Gross­mann, Senior Mana­ging Part­ner, and Anne-Char­­lotte Phil­bert, Mana­ging Direc­tor at Eura­zeo, said: “As active members of the LumApps Board of Direc­tors and repre­sen­ta­ti­ves of Eura­zeo on this board, we are very proud to have been able to support the manage­ment team in reali­zing a shared vision for LumApps. LumApps has successfully estab­lished itself as a global market leader in the field of digi­tal employer expe­ri­ence for companies.

Consul­tant Bridgepoint: 

Deut­sche Bank (M&A Advi­sor), Latham & Watkins (Legal Advi­sor), Bain (Commer­cial), Cross­lake (Tech Due Dili­gence), EY (Finan­cial and Tax Due Dili­gence), D’Orn­ano + Co (Growth Due Dili­gence), ERM (ESG Due Dili­gence) and Marsh (Insu­rance Due Diligence).

Consul­tant LumApps:

William Blair (M&A Advi­sor), DLA Piper (M&A Legal Advi­sor), Squire Patton Boggs (VDD Legal Advi­sor), Dune (Corpo­rate Legal Advi­sor), EY-Parthe­­non (VDD Commer­cial and Tech­no­lo­gi­cal Advi­sor), EY (VDD Finan­cial Advisor) .

About LumApps

LumApps is a next-gene­ra­­tion intra­net SaaS plat­form that allows employees to connect to their orga­niza­tion and work from anywhere. By provi­ding a modern, intel­li­gent digi­tal hub, LumApps is revo­lu­tio­ni­zing employee inter­ac­tion, produc­ti­vity and lear­ning in the work­place. LumApps uses an AI-powered plat­form to make intel­li­gent, targe­ted inter­nal commu­ni­ca­tion effort­less and centra­lize key HR resour­ces and busi­ness appli­ca­ti­ons on a single plat­form, regard­less of the colla­bo­ra­tion suite: Google Workspace or Micro­soft 365.

With more than five million users and around 700 custo­mers world­wide, LumApps is reco­gni­zed as a Leader in the 2023 Gart­ner® Magic Quadrant™ for Intra­net Packa­ged Solu­ti­ons. LumApps is part of the French Tech 120 program.

About Bridge­point

Bridge­point Group plc is a listed inter­na­tio­nal alter­na­tive asset mana­ger focu­sed on mid-market compa­nies. With assets under manage­ment of over EUR 62 billion (inclu­ding ECP after closing of the tran­sac­tion), the company employs around 200 invest­ment experts in Europe, North America and Asia. Bridge­point combi­nes global reach with local market know­ledge and sector exper­tise to consis­t­ently deli­ver compel­ling returns across econo­mic cycles. Bridge­point pursues a diver­si­fied invest­ment stra­tegy in four verti­cal areas: Mid-Cap, Smid-Cap, Growth and Credit. Bridge­point has a track record of land­mark tran­sac­tions in the tech­no­logy sector, inclu­ding eFront, Calypso, Kyriba and Brevo.

https://www.bridgepoint.eu