Digital HR talent assessment firm Assessio sells majority stake to Main Capital Partners
Assessio, a leading provider of HR talent assessment technology and services in the Nordics, has sold a majority stake to Main Capital Partners, a Private Equity investor specialising in enterprise software. Assessio is a privately-owned company, offering a comprehensive Software as a Service (“SaaS”) solution called Ascend that allows clients to predict success of recruitments and improve organisational performance through data-driven insights. Main Capital Partners invested alongside the current private owners and company management. MCF acted as financial adviser to the owners of Assessio in this transaction.
The Deal
With its best-in-class service offering, Assessio is the Nordic market leader within the talent assessment industry and has built highly specialised expertise since its foundation in 1954. The business has successfully transitioned to a SaaS model over recent years and has shown impressive growth with strong recurring revenue streams and significant scalability. This attractive business profile sparked significant interest from potential buyers in both Europe and the U.S. and led to a highly competitive process.
A primary focus in the transaction was finding a suitable partner for the next stage of growing Assessio’s SaaS solution, Ascend. The platform optimises recruitment processes, improves selection and matching, reduces employee turnover and improves talent and leadership development within organisations.
The transaction brings together Assessio’s world class expertise in HR talent assessment with Main Capital’s specialised knowledge in the software industry, particularly in the HR software segment. With Assessio, Main Capital is positioned to leverage its experience in the internationalisation of software solutions while continuing to build a market leading position within evidence-based digital talent assessment systems in the Nordic region.
The Target
For over 65 years, Assessio has been a leader in HR psychology, both as a scientific publisher and as a specialised consultancy. The company has incorporated this heritage and expertise into the modern, state-of-the-art Ascend platform, providing clients scientifically validated insights in a single, reliable, user friendly SaaS solution.
The platform uses Assessio’s proprietary talent assessments, including the well-known Matrigma and MAP tools, to measure individuals’ cognitive ability and personality traits. Ascend then uses analytics to produce decision-relevant insights for talent selection and development. The company is currently developing additional innovative modules which will be launched later this year. The product suite of Assessio enables clients to incorporate data-driven work practices in core HR processes further driving success of HR strategies.
Assessio serves a client base of over 1,600 customers across a variety of verticals including business services, the public sector, IT and technology, financial services and recruitment companies. Blue chip clients include Randstad, Länsförsäkringar, Swedbank, NorgesGruppen and PostNord.
About Main Capital Partners
Main Capital is a strategic investor with an exclusive focus on the software sector in the Benelux, Germany and Scandinavia. Within this sector, Main Capital focuses on majority buyouts and later-stage growth capital for acquisitions. Main Capital has approximately € 450 million under management for investments in mature but growing software companies in the Netherlands, Germany and The Nordics. An experienced team of professionals manages these Private Equity funds from offices in The Hague, Düsseldorf and Stockholm.
