Main CEO Charly Zwemstra at the 2016 Private Equity Exchange Awards in Paris. Image: Main Capital Partners
The fresh funding has doubled Main Capital’s assets under management to nearly €2.2bn.
European software investor Main Capital Partners has raised €1.21bn to back small and large businesses across the continent.
It raised capital for two new funds, Main Capital VII and Main Foundation I, and more than doubled its assets under management to almost €2.2bn. In 2019, its assets under management stood at €970m.
More than 60pc of the total capital raised in the new funds came from undisclosed existing investors. The group said that the remaining capital came from “new relationships” with institutions such as pension funds, asset managers, family offices and high net-worth individuals.
“We aim to play a key role in the consolidation of the fragmented software market by building leading European software groups, executing strong, fit-for-purpose business models that drive sustainable growth,” said Main Capital CEO Charly Zwemstra.
While the Main Capital VII fund is set to continue the firm’s existing strategy of building profitable enterprise software groups, its new Main Foundation I fund will target smaller but fast-growing and high-potential software companies with modern technology platforms.
‘Buy and build’ strategy
Founded in 2003, Main Capital is a strategic investor with an exclusive focus on enterprise software companies. It focuses its investment on Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, as well as Germany, Austria and Switzerland and the Nordics region.
It has acquired 75 software businesses in the past five years alone and it currently manages a portfolio of 29 software groups such as German regtech Cleversoft and Swedish HR software and AI company Assessio, among others.
The group follows a local buy-and-build strategy, where it expands its operations by acquiring a platform company with developed expertise that it can then build out. It did this with its acquisition of fintech King Software and health-tech SDB Group in the Netherlands, regtech Foconis and government-tech Mach in Germany, and security software company Pointsharp in Sweden.
Main Capital has a team of 45 employees across three offices in The Hague, Düsseldorf and Stockholm.
Tech deals in Europe have been skyrocketing in 2021, and a July report found that Europe is leading the way in the world’s billion-dollar tech unicorn boom.
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