Hamburg-based social intranet app COYO and Finnish mobile-first employee communications platform Smarp have announced today that they would merge both SaaS companies. According to the press release, with this merger, they’ll form one of the world’s five largest companies in the employee engagement space.
Managing the increasing mobile workforce
The combined entity will offer services to medium and large businesses from offices in the US, Germany, UK, France and Finland. They will also take help from customers like Salesforce, Google, Amazon, DHL, Deutsche Bahn and E.ON to form these firms.
The new entity aims to address the challenges of an increasingly mobile workforce and how companies can effectively manage change while keeping their employees engaged and motivated. This would be achieved by combining Smarp’s employee communications and advocacy portfolio with COYO’s social intranet and employee engagement offering.
For the time being, both Smarp and COYO will continue to operate under their current brands. Product development and sales of both platforms will run as usual.
Marlin Equity Partners led the transaction and it also saw participation from the management and founders of Smarp and COYO. Smarp’s investor Nauta Capital is said to be investing in the new company.
Benefit for customers
According to the statement, both companies have seen double-digit topline growth in the past three years featuring a combined customer list of more than 700 companies from various industries.
This acquisition will help in extending several benefits to the customers of both companies. It ranges from multi-channel communication, social intranet, employee surveys, employee advocacy and a marketplace for widgets and connectors.
About COYO
Headquartered in Hamburg, COYO is an employee communications platform. With the combination of a social intranet and a social employee app, the company offers businesses a centralised solution that makes it easy to reach all employees, improve internal communication and promote a culture of feedback.
COYO claims to have clients such as Rittler Sport, Asklepios and E.ON. It also allows a device and location-dependent communication channel that helps in all the company-related information and social exchange. In 2019, COYO secured a mezzanine loan from Amsterdam-based Pride Capital Partners.
Speaking about the development, Jan Marius Marquardt, CEO and founder of COYO says, “We are absolutely excited about joining forces as global businesses have never shown a greater need to drive employee engagement during a pandemic and while their digital transformation has not been completed yet. There is both a need and an opportunity for our two companies to form a global leader based on the combined experience we can bring in.”
About Smarp
Founded in 2011, Smarp is a mobile-first employee communications platform that claims to help companies in making reliable relationships with their employees. It automatically delivers personalised content to the employees through their preferred platform. The company claims to have helped around 300 firms since its inception in changing the way they communicate and share content. Its customers include Amazon, Marriott, L’Oreal, Pfizer, Bayer, among others.
