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EMERAM to invest in CoCoNet AG for next growth phase
Munich (DE), 29 April 2024 – CoCoNet AG (CoCoNet), a corporate banking software provider for digital corporate banking focused on payments and cash management, has been acquired by funds advised by EMERAM, a leading growth investor for medium-sized companies in German-speaking countries.
Founded in 1984 and headquartered Düsseldorf, CoCoNet provides stand-alone front-office solutions that enable financial institutions to enhance end-user experience without the need to overhaul their core banking systems. During the last 10 years, CoCoNet expanded from Germany to neighboring countries, such as Italy, Netherlands, UK, Switzerland and Austria.
Björn Hassing, Co-CEO of CoCoNet said: “I am immensely proud of what the CoCoNet team has achieved and with EMERAM we have found an experienced and long-term oriented investor who will be a strong partner to help us capitalize on opportunities in our next growth phase, while continuing to provide excellent customer service to our existing customers. As we embark on this exciting phase of expansion, we would like to express our gratitude to the former shareholders.”
Dr. Alexis Tran-Viet, Partner of EMERAM, explains: “We are looking forward to supporting CoCoNet in driving digital banking transformation in the coming years. EMERAM has deep expertise in B2B software and we look forward to working with CoCoNet’s management team to address some of the most pressing challenges in digital banking.”
Dr. Johannes Benzing, Principal of EMERAM, adds: “Our acquisition of CoCoNet is another example of EMERAM’s thematic sourcing strategy in attractive technology niches. Our goal is to identify software companies with market leading positions and a high share of recurring revenues which are poised for growth through product suite expansion and geographic reach.“
EMERAM was advised by Noerr (Legal), FGS (Tax), A&M (Financial), Telescope (Commercial), Codejoi (Technical) and Clearwater (Financing). CoCoNet and its shareholders were advised by ARTHOS (M&A) and Orth Kluth (legal).
CoCoNet provides banks with a powerful front-end that allows for convenient payment, liquidity and cash management, thereby seamlessly integrating corporate customers into their banking processes. The major building blocks of the platform are:
• multi:bank, the payment and cash management product and central access channel to all bank information and processes
• multi:hub, an international banking server required for European standardized multi-banking environments that acts as middleware to connect client channels with the back-end banking systems
• multi:versa has been introduced most recently to enhance the platform through additional functionalities such as client and product onboarding, communication and document exchange as well as individual financial information cockpit
EMERAM is one of the leading investment managers for medium-sized companies in German-speaking countries. Funds advised by EMERAM provide more than 650 million euros of capital for the development of growing companies. The portfolio includes companies from the technology/software, value-added services and new consumer staples sectors. EMERAM acts as a long-term business development partner for its companies and promotes the sustainable growth (organic and inorganic) of the portfolio companies. In addition, the company focuses on the implementation of holistic ESG concepts.
Currently, the portfolio contains seven platform investments with cumulatively more than 2,500 employees. The companies continuously achieve double-digit organic sales growth. In addition, more than 30 add-on acquisitions accelerated the growth and enabled international expansion.