Innovation Management: Main Capital subsidiary HYPE merges with Planbox

Düssel­dorf — The merger of HYPE and Plan­box crea­tes one of the largest inter­na­tio­nal provi­ders of inno­va­tion manage­ment soft­ware, with a turno­ver of almost 30 million euros. — Plan­box is the fourth acqui­si­tion of HYPE Inno­va­tion, a subsi­diary of Main Capi­tal since 2019, and demons­tra­tes the inter­na­tio­na­liza­tion of its port­fo­lio compa­nies in North America.

This stra­te­gic part­ner­ship bene­fits from Planbox’s exper­tise in full life­cy­cle inno­va­tion port­fo­lio manage­ment, emer­ging tech empower­ment and ecosys­tem enablem­ent. With more than two deca­des of expe­ri­ence, Plan­box has an impres­sive port­fo­lio of 400 imple­men­ta­ti­ons, over 5 million enga­ged parti­ci­pants and a $10 billion ROI for its clients. The company’s AI-powered, cloud-based agile inno­va­tion solu­ti­ons have been instru­men­tal in impro­ving the busi­ness results of inter­na­tio­nally reco­gni­zed brands Bayer, Anglo Ameri­can, Doosan Bobcat, Novar­tis, Elec­tro­lux Profes­sio­nal, and Honey­well. Since the merger with Brain­bank Soft­ware in 2015, Plan­box has taken a leading posi­tion in the indus­try and achie­ved top rankings in analyst reports, most nota­bly in the Forres­ter Wave 2020.

Frank Henningsen, CEO of HYPE Inno­va­tion, said: “Our jour­ney began with a vision to change the way compa­nies inno­vate. Joining forces with Plan­box soli­di­fies this vision by combi­ning more than two deca­des of insight, tech­no­logy and passion. As the boun­da­ries between regi­ons and markets conti­nue to blur, our combi­ned exper­tise is a model for global inno­va­tion, ensu­ring that our clients not only adapt, but thrive in this dyna­mic land­scape. We have seen how tecto­nic market shifts can rede­fine entire sectors. With this merger, we will usher in a new era of inno­va­tion manage­ment for the world.”

In view of the incre­asing importance of gene­ra­tive AI, the merger is setting new indus­try stan­dards for inno­va­tion manage­ment systems. HYPE’s AI compe­ten­cies, such as the inno­va­tion network graph, AI-based data rese­arch and AI manage­ment, are now enhan­ced and enri­ched by powerful features from Plan­box. The resul­ting best-in-class plat­form repres­ents a trans­for­ma­tive change in the inno­va­tion manage­ment envi­ron­ment and marks the begin­ning of a new chap­ter where human crea­ti­vity, arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence and gover­nance come toge­ther to unlock unpre­ce­den­ted inno­va­tion poten­tial. It simpli­fies proces­ses, enables effi­ci­ent use of resour­ces and bridges gaps between front-end inno­va­tion work and back-end proces­ses and systems.

Ludwig Melik, CEO of Plan­box, added: “In the fast-chan­­ging global market, it’s not just about survi­ving, it’s about outper­forming. Our combi­ned strengths are more than just a stra­te­gic alli­ance — they are a commit­ment to our custo­mers. Toge­ther, we are crea­ting an envi­ron­ment in which compa­nies are able to be future-ready by pre-emptively adap­ting to and bene­fiting from market chan­ges rather than simply reac­ting to them. With our expan­ded capa­bi­li­ties, we envi­sion a future where inno­va­tion manage­ment beco­mes the corner­stone of every successful business.”

Toge­ther, HYPE Inno­va­tion and Plan­box want to revo­lu­tio­nize the inno­va­tion manage­ment indus­try, offer compa­nies world­wide added value and open up new oppor­tu­ni­ties for growth and success. In addi­tion, custo­mers bene­fit from an exten­ded network of part­ners, employees and experts that the Group makes available to promote oppor­tu­ni­ties for colla­bo­ra­tion and the exch­ange of expe­ri­ence and to acce­le­rate their inno­va­tion efforts.

Sven van Berge Henegou­wen, Mana­ging Part­ner and Head of the DACH region at Main Capi­tal Part­ners, concluded: “HYPE Inno­va­tion has become a leading soft­ware specia­list in the enter­prise inno­va­tion manage­ment soft­ware market. North America is a very stra­te­gic market for HYPE and we are plea­sed to support the company during this criti­cal growth phase. We believe that the combi­na­tion of HYPE and Plan­box crea­tes a stron­gly posi­tio­ned group with a promi­sing future.”

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