The trend in the software publishing industry is consolidation. 2022 has already seen a number of mergers. The latest is Silae, a French specialist in payroll and HR management in the cloud, which has just acquired Lyon-based software publisher RHSuite.com. AURIS Finance, a consultancy specialising in mergers and acquisitions, provides the latest update.
The announcement was made on 15 November 2022. In a press release, Silae announced the acquisition of RHSuite.com, described as a “Lyon-based gold nugget”. “We are already seeing the benefits of our move to an HRIS (Human Resources Management Information System). Our recent acquisitions have strengthened our operational offer with a more complete and seamless solution for HR departments. In a context of great uncertainty for companies, we are convinced that it is necessary to play the role of a technological and trustworthy partner by addressing all the major issues of the day in HR, in order to help companies focus on the management, support, and development of their talent pool,” said Thomas Bourgeois, CEO of Silae, at the time of the acquisition.
A French Centaur
The group’s ambition is to double the number of users by 2026, reaching 12 million by that date. To achieve this, Silae is pursuing an offensive acquisition strategy by taking over competing and complementary companies. Last September, the group made three acquisitions: DSN+ (from the CLICK’N DECiDE group), isiRH (including MegRH), and Jenji for a total of €70 million. The value of the RHSuite.com transaction was not disclosed. With these three acquisitions, the group has reached the symbolic threshold of more than €100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR), placing it in the centaur category.
Silver Lake at the helm
This growth has been made possible by the investment of the American investment fund Silver Lake as of 2020. Under its leadership, Silae first acquired eDoc and NewDeal, and significantly increased the number of its employees: 350 today, compared with around a hundred at the time of the fund’s arrival. In two years, the group has confirmed its leadership in France in the market for cloud-based payroll and human resources management solutions. Its SaaS solution, hosted in the cloud, is aimed at HR managers and is equipped with automatic legal and regulatory updates. It is currently distributed by 4,500 partners and generates approximately 6 million pay slips per month for 800,000 partner companies. With these acquisitions, Silae intends to target new prospects and in particular the small and medium-sized business segment. It should be noted that the RHSuite.com solution is already used in the hotel, restaurant, tourism, clothing and retail sectors.
Experts at your side
Significant increases in market share and access to new markets can be achieved through inorganic growth. However, rapid growth is not without impact on the life of the company. AURIS Finance’s experts are familiar with the problems of change and are specialised by industry. They support companies in their development projects. They are at your side throughout your acquisitions and sales transactions.
