Sagard NewGen acquires leading provider of SaaS solutions
29th October 2024
Sagard NewGen announces the acquisition of FuturMaster, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider of Supply Chain Planning and Revenue Growth Management solutions, from its founder and Cathay Capital. Sagard NewGen becomes the Group’s majority shareholder alongside the management team and Cathay Capital, who reinvest in the new transaction.
This acquisition aligns with recent trends in the SaaS and supply chain sectors, where private equity and investment firms target companies driving digital transformation. For instance, in December 2022, Thoma Bravo acquired Coupa, a leader in business spend management, to enhance its portfolio of cloud-based solutions supporting operational efficiencies for large enterprises. Similarly, in January 2022, Blackstone invested in Cloudreach, a cloud services provider, to strengthen its capabilities in digital and cloud-based transformation. These deals, like the acquisition of FuturMaster, underscore a strategic focus on leveraging technology to optimize complex, global operations amidst shifting market demands.
FuturMaster, with its Bloom platform, offers a comprehensive suite of SaaS-based solutions for the end-to-end supply chain planning and revenue optimisation of large enterprises and mid-sized companies worldwide. Thanks to cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, digital twin modelling and operational research, FuturMaster enables its customers to better plan for demand, and adapt their operational response by optimising production, distribution and supply plans. This platform is used daily by many leading companies in all sectors, including Heineken, L’Oréal, TotalEnergies and SNCF, in over 90 countries. The group is profitable, with growth of c.30% per year, and generates over €30 million in revenue, over a third of which is generated outside France. It employs nearly 200 people in France, the UK, Singapore and China.
Yacine Zeroual, CEO of FuturMaster, said: ‘We are delighted to begin this new chapter with Sagard NewGen, which shares our ambition to become a global leader in Supply Chain Planning and Revenue Growth Management solutions. With the support of Sagard NewGen and Cathay Capital, and backed by a talented and committed team, we will accelerate our international expansion while continuing to offer our customers innovative solutions to transform their complexity into sustainable competitive advantage in a constantly changing world.’
Bérangère Barbe and Guillaume Lefebvre, Partners at Sagard NewGen, added: ‘We are delighted to support Yacine and his team in the next stages of FuturMaster’s development in Europe and beyond. This project, alongside the management team, is based above all on the continuity of the company’s strategy of product innovation and internationalisation. This transaction, which opens up the capital more widely to the company’s management team, is perfectly in line with Sagard NewGen’s Growth Buyout strategy.’
Jérémie Falzone, Partner at Cathay Capital, stated: ‘Since acquiring a stake in FuturMaster in 2020, we have been proud to support the company, which has successfully developed innovative SaaS-based supply chain management solutions and expanded its business with major companies that are leaders in their sectors. We are delighted to continue our partnership with Sagard NewGen and the company’s management to accelerate FuturMaster’s international growth.’