CAPZA – an independent management company and leading player in private investments in European SMEs – has acquired a minority stake in WSHOP, a publisher of a Digital Unified Commerce Solution (e-commerce platform with omnichannel capabilities).
Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Paris, WSHOP provides retailers with a wide set of tools and functionalities to monitor their e-commerce sales and their digital transition.
With its unique hybrid model WSHOP enables its clients to focus on their core business by relying on a comprehensive, performing and continuously enriched software for their digital commerce needs as well as on a dedicated team of digital and retail experts. Thanks to its business model based on performance, WSHOP works on a daily basis hand in hand with its customers to best meet their objectives.
Led since its inception by its CEO, Brice Ohayon, WSHOP has gained the trust of over 40-plus iconic brands such as Jonak, Kujten, Hespéride or Vanessa Bruno – generating EUR3.5 billion in revenues through 8,000 retail outlets. WSHOP’s clients’ revenues have increased three to five times over market average following the implementation of the WSHOP’s software.
With CAPZA’s support, the group’s ambition is to strengthen its footprint across the French retail landscape, especially in the field of home equipment, food and cosmetics and to triple its customer base in the following years.
CAPZA will join WSHOP as a minority shareholder, Brice Ohayon maintaining a majority stake in the group. The transaction has also constituted an opportunity for the management team to become shareholder of the company.
“We are delighted to be part of this new phase of WSHOP’s development, led by a talented CEO and an experienced management team. We believe the group shows a tremendous potential thanks to its unique dual product/service approach and a strong customer satisfaction. Moreover, in light of the Covid crisis, ordering online has become standard and there is a strongly increasing demand for this type of solution on both customer and supplier side,” says Maxence Radix, Co-Head France Flex Equity, CAPZA.
“We have been very impressed by Brice Ohayon’s strategic vision and his knowledge of the e-commerce ecosystem. We are proud to support him and his teams in this new phase of WSHOP’s development and to be able to help structuring the group’s growth and duplicating its success on a European level,” says Bruno Bonnin, Flex Equity Partner, CAPZA.
“I am convinced that CAPZA’s team is the right fit for the group to deliver its ambitious strategic roadmap over the next few years. Their expertise will allow WSHOP to ramp up and diversify its growth in the retail market in France and on an international level, potentially through external growth,” says Brice Ohayon, CEO & Founder, WSHOP.
This is the seventh transaction of the CAPZA 5 Flex Equity fund and the 26th software transaction for CAPZA, whose teams have also completed more than 40 tech-related transactions.
