17 January 2023
The Pion Group (POOL-B:STO), previously known as Poolia, announced that it has acquired Swedish HR tech company Whippy, an SaaS (software as a service) solution for on- and off-boarding.
The group has acquired 40% of the shares in Whippy through a new issue. The acquisition takes place with effect from today and Pion Group will contribute SEK 4 million (€354,462) to Whippy in the new share issue. At the same time, Pion Group gets an option to acquire an additional 40% of the shares in Whippy in 2025.
Whippy’s sellers are its founders Paulin Larsen Berglöf and Emma Lindgren. The duo will continue to run and operate the company under their current brand.
The price of the transaction was not disclosed.
Whippy was established in 2019 and has a strong market position in digital on- and off-boarding with customers in both the private and public sectors. The company says that in addition to solid experience in tailoring managerial and employee processes during the first and last critical period of employment, it specializes in measuring and evaluating the processes.
In 2023, Whippy is expected to have a turnover of close to SEK 6 million (€531,693) with an EBIT of just over SEK 1 million (€88,615).
Jan Bengtsson, CEO Pion Group, said, “Through our entry into Whippy, we gain access to Whippy’s on- and offboarding expertise as well as their SaaS solution for on- and offboarding. Whippy’s digital solution provides clear and measurable results for managers and employees where 50% of employees who have undergone Whippy’s process deliver above the manager’s expectations in the first quarter. Through the acquisition, we take another step closer to our vision, A world where people matter, powered by tech, where we strengthen our offer within HR -Tech. Today, our customers largely request support in the processes that Whippy offers. Together we will get a very strong customer offering.”
Larsen Berglöf added, “We are proud to be part of the Pion Group and with their strong brands we will be even more successful. It was felt early on that we fit together from a cultural perspective, but also from our ambitious goals. Whippy will be a complement to Pion Group’s business that will make it possible to add value in even more steps in the employee cycle.”
At the same time, Whippy also announced that it has acquired Henry Labs AB, owner of the SaaS platform Typelane, which specializes in digital on- and offboarding. Whippy has been a reseller of Typelane since 2019, after evaluating many of the existing onboarding techniques in the Swedish and Nordic markets.
The group said that Pion’s investment enables this acquisition.
“By being part of the Pion family, we also get access to a large network and good competence in HR that can strengthen our growth,” Larsen Berglöf added. “It feels incredibly fun to be able to offer a new home for Typelane because we know that the platform offers one of the best solutions for customized on and offboarding. We will nurture what the founders of Typelane have built and further develop the platform based on where we see the market going.”
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