Quarton International supports growth financing for Europe's leading independent B2B marketplace Mercateo
Munich, June 27, 2017 – Quarton International is happy to announce that Mercateo Beteiligungs Holding AG (“Mercateo”) has secured successful growth financing. The Luxembourg-based financial investor BIP is investing a double-digit figure in the millions into Europe's leading independent B2B marketplace.
The investment secures the basis for the strategic expansion of the existing marketplace model to a transactional network with a viral platform economy. The plan is to strengthen "Mercateo Unite", a digital infrastructure that enables companies to significantly improve their B2B procurement processes and manage business relationships more efficiently. In June 2017, SAP Ariba selected "Mercateo Unite" as the infrastructure for the Ariba Spot Buy procurement process. European SAP Ariba customers are given access to a broad, optionally expandable assortment and supplier landscape for ad-hoc requirements via "Mercateo Unite".
The successful search for a growth investor was supported exclusively by Quarton International. "Hand in hand with the Quarton team, we have found the best investor for us. With BIP, we will have a strong partner at our side in order to systematically expand the innovative "Mercateo Unite" B2B platform model", stated Mercateo CEO Dr. Sebastian Wieser. "Digital platform business models in Germany are hard to find. The team from Quarton was the ideal companion: Not only in their specific expertise and experience, but also in the inspiring team spirit which has made our journey possible".
Kurt Müller, Partner from Target Partners: "Quarton has done a great job explaining the complex, hybrid business model to investors and to bring it to conclusion."
Katrin Wehr-Seiter, Managing Director at BIP Investment Partners, adds, "Mercateo's extraordinary management established a successful company with enormous growth potential in an incredibly exciting B2B segment. We are looking forward to supporting the company during their next growth phase."
Mercateo was founded in 2000 by Dr. Sebastian Wieser and two additional McKinsey consultants as a B2B marketplace. Today, the solutions combine the advantages of a B2B marketplace with a networking platform. Through this infrastructure, buyers, suppliers, manufacturers, and service providers connect their systems amongst themselves, and process transactions digitally, regardless of their previous degree of digitization. Buyers and suppliers thus make their business processes more efficient through standardization, while at the same time benefiting from supply diversity and direct relationships with their partners. In addition to the “Mercateo Unite” networking platform, which is positioned neutrally between suppliers and buyers in the B2B sector, Mercateo has been running the largest B2B marketplace in Europe since the year 2000. In 2016, Mercateo increased its sales to EUR 228 million. The company employs more than 450 people across Europe and is currently active in 14 countries.
BIP, part of the BIP group, is an independent financial holding located in Luxembourg. It manages an investment portfolio of around EUR 250 million, and invests in medium-sized companies with a clear growth perspective, especially in Germany, the Benelux countries, France, Austria, and Switzerland. BIP is a European-based investor with proven experience and a sustainable track record. BIP supports the further development and expansion of companies in various sectors, both through relevant expertise and through the provision of financing for growth initiatives or acquisitions.