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Contentsquare / Hotjar acquired the UK-based tech company PingPong UX

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Our Client PingPong, the UK based UX design startup, a fully-integrated platform for UX research and user testing with 200+ clients, 175k+ testers in 100+ countries successfully closed its M&A deal with the global leader in digital experience intelligence and analytics Contentsquare.

The PingPong team and platform is technically joining forces with the Maltese-US giant user behaviour analytics company Hotjar, part of the Contentsquare portfolio, under the new branding “Hotjar Engage”.

The 6 years journey from PingPong to Hotjar Engage

PingPong was founded in 2016 with a clear mission: to simplify the user research process, breaking the „routine” of slow and fragmented process of user testing, knowing there had to be a better, more usable, more productive and more convenient way.

They started with a simple, bootstrapped prototype and had to rely on friends and family to be their testers. After 6 years of dedication and hard work they have become a powerful user-testing platform with over 175,000 testers worldwide, with big brands and large customers in their impressive client pool.

And just last year, the team at Hotjar, trusted by 1.1M+ websites in 180+ countries, started using PingPong for user research.

Their teams ended up talking, and they came to realize they shared the same vision.

Hotjar wants every business to have the power to create product experiences people love. To do that, understanding and empathizing with the people using your product is essential. That’s what PingPong is all about: making it as easy as possible to gather the face-to-face feedback you need to build a product your users will love.

With this acquisition, PingPong is changing its name to Hotjar Engage, and will be fully integrated into the Hotjar portfolio, sitting alongside Hotjar’s existing products Ask (Surveys and Feedback) and Observe (Heatmaps and Recordings), while its product features remain unchanged.

The future – never seen growth opportunities as part of the Contentsquare / Hotjar family

The global leader in digital experience intelligence and analytics Contentsquare, based in Paris, France, has grown up from one French entrepreneur in a small Parisian attic to a global team of 1,500+, has raised USD 1.4 billion investments in total (the last one this year, a Series F round of USD 600 million).

Since 2019, Contentsquare has boosted its dynamic growth by acquiring Clicktale, Pricing Assistant, Adapt My Web, Dareboost, Upstride – and the product experience insights leader Hotjar in September 2021, to deliver cutting-edge insights to businesses of all sizes and across all industries.

This acquisition opens broad perspectives and enormous growth potential for PingPong; as part of the Contentsquare / Hotjar family, they will have more resources than ever to speed up product development, add new features, and expand their pool of testers.

PingPong UX was advised by Absolvo Consulting in the transaction process with Contentsquare / Hotjar.

Source: PingPong UX blog – Hotjar has acquired PingPong

Innonic’s Shoprenter successfully sold its majority stake to the Polish e-commerce giant IAI

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Our Client Shoprenter, a member of the Innonic Group, a major SaaS-based e-commerce platform provider in Hungary agreed to sell majority stake to an international strategic investor to further exploit its growth potential in the CEE region and Europe.

In July 2021, Shoprenter closed a successful M&A transaction with the market leader Polish e-commerce SaaS provider company IAI (IdoSell), which acquired a majority stake (51%) in the Hungarian company.

IAI – backed by the leading digital PE fund in Poland and Central Europe MCI Capital – reported GMV (gross merchandise value) of EUR 2.6bn EUR in the fiscal year ending April 2021, and it provides e-commerce systems for 6000+ online stores and 1500+ online accommodation booking facilities.

The acquisition of its peer Shoprenter is one of the very first important milestones in IAI’s European and international expansion and becoming a global player.

Shoprenter was advised by Absolvo Consulting in the transaction process with IAI.

The owner of EZIT sold his stakes to the European leader in hosting services Loopia Group

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EZIT Kft. and Magyar Hosting Kft. are significant players of the IT hosting market in Hungary, providing server-, cloud- and domain services for their clients. The owner sold 100% of the shares to the Sweden-based, private equity-backed Loopia Group, one of the most active players on the European IT hosting market, having dominant presence in Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Absolvo advised the founder / owner of the companies, supported him in negotiating deal conditions (valuation; other relevant terms etc.), in the process of due diligence, in negotiating SPA, in signing and closing of the transaction.

Loopia Group is one of the largest domain and hosting service providers in Europe, with a revenue of approx. 23 million EUR and a client base of 500.000+, in owning to their extremely active acquisition strategy which is aimed to support their rapid expansion in Central Europe and the CEE region and strengthen their leading position in the Nordic area.

The Group acquired the Slovakia-based WebSupport, one of the largest Central-European web hosting service company with more than 100k clients in Slovakia and Hungary in February 2019. Their expansion has been followed by the acquisitions of Binero Group’s mass hosting business units in Sweden and Germany in June and Planeetta Internet Oy, the leading webhosting service provider in Norther Europe in August 2019.

Loopia closed M&A transaction with our Client EZIT Kft. and Magyar Hosting Kft. in December 2019 and they recently announced their acquisition closing with two major Finnish service providers, Suomen Hostingpalvelu Oy and Domainhotelli Oy.

Genesis Capital acquired majority in 11 Entertainment Group of Hungary

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Genesis Private Equity Fund III (GPEF III), a private equity fund advised by the Prague-based Genesis Capital, has signed the acquisition of 61% of 11 Entertainment Group, provider of indoor family entertainment in Hungary.

GPEF III partnered with the business founder, Mr. Stefan Fritsch, to build a family entertainment specialist in the CEE region. It is the eighth investment of GPEF III and its historically first independent investment in Hungary.

Our Client 11 Entertainment Group provides indoor family entertainment in trampoline parks, indoor playgrounds and laser tag arenas in Hungary. The founder and owner of the business, Mr. Stefan Fritsch, started the first playground in 2009 as a hobby-business together with his wife Réka Kovács to entertain his own children, while being a top manager in the automotive industry.

This point was an offtake of Mr. Fritsch’s career as entrepreneur. ”Entrepreneurship was a passion for me since I was a little boy selling comics at the street corner of my home town. As entrepreneurs we have the full freedom to influence the future in a direction we want to have it and by that we can generate the positive flow needed to overcome the immense hurdles and work load on our way to make things happen”, says Mr. Fritsch.

Since 2009, Stefan and Réka grew the business to 5 parks (Cyberjump) accommodating more than 500,000 visitors annually. The business has ambitions to expand further into the neighbouring countries to become a Central European family entertainment leader; to support its growth it was looking for a well-capitalised private equity investor with extensive international experience. In preparation for this plan, 11 Entertainment Group was recently strengthened by experienced top managers who also become shareholders of the group. GPEF III and Mr. Fritsch both allocated potential further capital to support the growth plan.

“The capital entry of Genesis will enable us to focus on rapid expansion of our entertainment concept throughout Central Europe,” says Stefan Fritsch, while adding: “and it is a proof that our team has done an excellent job in building the business to date. By having Genesis on board with its expertise and 20 years of experience in multiple industries and branches, we will get useful input to become even more professional in developing our growth”

“We perceive the investment into 11 Entertainment Group as an opportunity to support the strong entrepreneurial story of Stefan and realize the growth potential in currently underdeveloped family entertainment markets in Central Europe” comments Radan Hanzl, Partner at Genesis Capital, a local investment advisor to GPEF III. “We believe that Stefan’s track record in operational excellence and his approach to business expansion make 11 Entertainment Group an excellent platform for further growth”, Radan Hanzl concludes.

“As a bonus, this transaction also fulfils our vision of GPEF III expanding its region of operation beyond its traditional core markets of the Czech Republic and Slovakia”, adds Tatiana Balkovicová, Investment Director at Genesis Capital.

Sell-side transaction advisory was provided by Absolvo Consulting and Baker McKenzie.

 

For more information about trampoline park please watch the video introduction: Cyberjump Hungary

or visit website: https://www.cyberjump.hu/en/

 

Source: official press release

Private Equity investments, buyouts and the taxation issues of transactions

Equity Business Breakfast – Private Equity investments and the taxation issues of transactions

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EVENT – This time we put private equity, its specialities and function in focus. Our international PE investor guest Genesis Capital will give an overview what investment opportunities they are looking for, then we give an insight into the specific details of a recently closed PE transaction in which majority of stakes of 11 Entertainment Group was sold. Both investor’s and owner’s perspectives will be discovered and understood during the discussions. Taxation issues will be raised and answered by OrienTax.

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Ceres Pharma acquires Ceumed

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CEUMED, a major supplier of baby- and healthcare OTC products in CEE successfully closed M&A transaction with the Belgium-based Ceres Pharma which acquisition opens the door to Ceres Pharma in the CEE region. Vendor’s co-founders Marc Coucke and Mario Debel played key roles in building, expansion and exit of 3.6 bn EUR of the global pharmaceutical giant Omega Pharma. CEUMED was advised by Absolvo’s M&A team in the transaction process.

More information in vendor’s official announcement: Ceres Pharma completes first foreign acquisition