team.blue secures €550M investment at €4.8B valuation; Ali Niknam’s stake now valued around €1B

Ghent-based team.blue, a digital enabler for entrepreneurs and SMBs in Europe, has received an investment from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), valuing the company at €4.8B.

CPP Investments has committed approximately €550M to acquire a 20 per cent stake in the Belgian tech company. Hg remains the largest single investor in team.blue.

Jonas Dhaenens, founder and President of team.blue, tells fd.nl that HG owned about half of the company, with the management holding under 10 pe rcent and the remainder shared equally between him and Ali Niknam. Their combined stake is now worth €2B on paper, and Niknam’s 20 percent stake is now worth around €1B. 

CPP Investments joined Hg, along with founder and President Jonas Dhaenens and co-founder Ali Niknam, who remain cornerstone investors in team.blue. CEO Claudio Corbetta leads the management team, while Hg remains the largest single investor.

Hafiz Lalani, MD, Global Head of Direct Private Equity, CPP Investments, says, “team.blue operates in an attractive, resilient and growing online presence sector. Under its current leadership, the business has executed a successful M&A strategy to expand its product offerings and local presence across multiple European countries.”

“We look forward to working alongside Hg, a long-standing partner to CPP Investments, and the team.blue founders and leadership team, to support the platform as it continues on its journey to deliver on multiple growth vectors by expanding its portfolio of SaaS solutions, while delivering attractive risk-adjusted returns for CPP contributors and beneficiaries.”

team.blue: Empowering SMBs with digital solutions across Europe

team.blue aims to help its customers stay relevant, competitive, and successful in their digital journeys. Currently, the company serves 3.3 million SMB customers across 22 countries, offering a wide range of digital solutions. 

The solutions include enhancing security, ensuring GDPR compliance, boosting visitor attraction and conversion rates, improving customer engagement with marketing tools, and supporting online and offline commerce strategies.

The company is also actively investing in innovative products by partnering with leading European SaaS companies that share its vision.

Jonas Dhaenens and Claudio Corbetta, CEO, and Dawn Marriott, Executive Chair of team.blue, says, “This is a truly significant moment for our team and the many entrepreneurs who have joined us over the years. We are delighted to welcome CPP Investments, a leading global institutional investor with values that closely align with our own.”

“CPP Investment’s approach as a long-term patient capital investor is perfectly suited to our vision for sustained growth. Alongside our existing shareholders, CPP Investments recognises the growth ahead, underpinned by our plan to provide increasingly relevant online tools for businesses.”

“We thank Hg for their continued support and warmly welcome CPP Investments as we pursue our ambitious growth plans together.”

Currently, team.blue is operating across Europe in 22 countries including Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, and the UK.

Combell and TransIP joined to create team.blue

In 2019, Combell Group and Dutch-based TransIP Group announced the creation of team.blue, a European tech company with a valuation exceeding $1B. Founders Ali Niknam and Jonas Dhaenens aim to create reliable tools to help companies grow digitally.

Combining the growth and expertise of Combell and TransIP, team.blue emerges as a provider of hosting services across the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, and Switzerland. 

Combell’s strategic merger with Zitcom in 2017 and TransIP’s innovations like BladeVPS and the acquisition of IT-Ernity have strengthened their market positions. Dhaenens serves as CEO, while Ali Niknam, founder of TransIP and bunq, joined the board as a major investor.

Brief about Hg

Hg supports sector-leading enterprises that provide essential software and workflow services, driving digitisation trends that will shape the future workplace. The firm helps entrepreneurial leaders in scaling their businesses. 

With a European network, North American presence, and around $70B in funds, Hg manages a portfolio of 50 businesses valued at over $150B, growing revenues at over 20 per cent annually.

Speaking about team.blue, Joris Van Gool, Nick Jordan and Matthijs Deroo of Hg, say, “It’s been incredible to see our thesis play out over the last five years, with team.blue evolving into one of the largest tech platforms in Europe.”

“Together we are building a multibillion-category leader, offering multiple propositions for an ever-wider group of SMBs, enabling both online presence and better business success. We are proud of these achievements, partnering with multiple entrepreneurs who are now part of the group, and with ambitious plans to welcome many more in years to come.”

“And today we welcome CPP Investments as a new partner, whose well-placed trust in a highly capable management supports a strong outlook for growth.”