Partech Growth has invested EUR30 million investment in SendinBlue, a France-headquartered digital marketing platform for SMBs.
This Partech Growth’s eigth overall transaction and its fifth in Europe. SendinBlue will accelerate its investments in its leading one-stop-shop product and its sales and marketing efforts worldwide.
Armand Thiberge, CEO and founder of SendinBlue, says: “Choosing Partech was obvious to us. In addition to its strong international and technological dimension, Partech represents an expertise and network unmatched in Europe. Their recipe can be summarised as follows: commitment, support to entrepreneurs, and intelligence.”
Partech’s EUR400 million growth fund was launched in January 2015 with the purpose of investing in tech and digital leaders that have already proven their economic model and that wish to scale up their international expansion. The fund invests amounts ranging between EUR10 million and EUR40 million. Since its launch, Partech Growth has invested more than EUR200M in eight companies: three in the US, two in France, tw in the UK, and one in Finland, currently growing yearly at an average rate close to 50 per cent.
“We created this fund after noticing a sizeable lack of funding in our asset class, especially in Europe,” says General Partner Bruno Crémel. “This was preventing many companies from reaching their full potential. We are largely contributing to bridging this lack of capital and expertise and this has a very positive impact on entrepreneurship in Europe. There are now several large growth funds in Europe that have both the required capital and skills to foster the growth of the companies they invest in. The number of growth-stage deals in Europe has grown by 70 per cent between 2013 and 2017 and, looking beyond growth investments, the total deal volume of exits (IPOs and trade sales) has increased by 65 per cent during the same period.”
On the fund’s investment strategy, General Partner Omri Benayoun, says: “We have seen two main themes emerge in our portfolio up until now: B2B SaaS and online brands”. Partech Growth has for instance invested in UK-based furniture designer brand Made.com and in US-based flower delivery company The Bouqs. Partech Growth has also invested in 4 B2B SaaS companies: UK-headquartered social media intelligence leader Brandwatch; Finland-headquartered Enterprise Content Management disruptor M-Files; France-headquartered leader in supply chain Corporate Social Responsibility ratings Ecovadis; and France-headquartered new-generation digital marketing platform for SMBs SendinBlue. Omri Benayoun continues: “We are very bullish on the future of B2B SaaS out of Europe. The product and tech talent pool is very deep, and the sales and marketing approach is global, with very successful US expansion for all those four Saas companies.”
John Tabis, CEO and co-founder of The Bouqs, says: “Partech has been a phenomenal partner for The Bouqs Company. The firm’s expertise across company stage, their vast network across industries, and deep expertise in global online consumer brands made working with them an easy decision.”
