Frankfurt-based Billwerk+ acquires plenigo, strengthening its presence in publishing and media industries

Frankfurt-based Billwerk+, a pan-European provider of subscription management and recurring billing software solutions, announced on Tuesday the integration of plenigo, a German provider of subscription management and recurring billing software solutions for publishing and media companies, into its group.

The financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

This marks the third addition to Billwerk+’s acquisition portfolio following PSG’s initial investment in May 2021.

Before plenigo, Billwerk+ merged with Reepay, a Danish SaaS platform that specialises in cloud-based payment and subscription management, in November 2021.

The acquisition of Sofacto, a French provider of Salesforce-based subscription management and recurring billing applications, also took place in January 2022.

Plenigo: What you need to know

Founded in 2013 by Thorsten Petter and Maximilian Schweitzer, plenigo is a company that specialises in creating and managing a software-as-a-service platform tailored for publishers in the newspaper and magazine industry. 

Their platform enables publishers to establish and expand reader-funded business models. 

Initially focused on digital strategies, plenigo’s solution has now attracted numerous publishers who also use it for print operations. 

Prominent German media brands such as Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, SPIEGEL, Heise Medien, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and Ebner Media Group, are among plenigo’s clientele. 

plenigo maintains a workforce of approximately 25 employees across its offices in Kempten, Berlin, Hamburg, and Belgrade.

Following the transaction, plenigo’s co-founders will both become shareholders of the group and continue to actively support the continued development of the platform.

“This combination is the right step to give our customers the development speed and perspective they need in a dynamic market to transform their technology landscape,” says Thorsten Petter, CEO and co-founder of plenigo. 

“In a strong team with a like-minded vision, we want to drive the technological foundation for future-oriented business models of reader financing for publishers, both in Germany and Europe. We look forward to working with the Billwerk+ and PSG teams to achieve this objective,” adds Petter. 

Billwerk+: What you need to know

Billwerk+ provides a cloud-based payment, billing, and subscription management platform that simplifies management and billing of recurring and consumption-based services. 

The company combines the competencies of the Danish payments company Reepay, the French subscription management provider Sofacto, and the German provider Billwerk. 

Billwerk+ employs more than 150 people at five locations: Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Montpellier, Gdansk, and Minsk.

Dr. Ricco Deutscher, CEO and co-founder of Billwerk+, says, “Over the past few years, plenigo has driven technological transformation in the German publishing world in an impressive way. We are pleased that by adding plenigo to the group, we can further accelerate this development.” 

“We can also support publishers in Germany and Europe in successfully mastering the transformation to digital reader financing. Together within Billwerk+, this creates new options for current plenigo customers and significant growth opportunities for the group as we move towards our objective of creating a pan-European champion for subscription management, recurring billing, and payments software,” adds Dr Deutscher.