Who is Visma?
Visma is a business software group headquartered in Oslo, Norway, founded in 1996 and led by CEO Merete Hverven. The company sells cloud accounting, payroll, HR, and ERP software to small and mid sized businesses and the public sector. Visma serves more than 2 million customers across 28 plus countries in Europe and Latin America and employed roughly 17,500 people as of 2024.
Visma is privately held. Hg, the London and Munich based software investor, first backed Visma in 2006 and has led the shareholder group since a $5.3 billion buyout in 2017. A December 2023 transaction valued Visma at EUR 19 billion and brought in about 20 new investors, including Jane Street, NPS, and the New York City Retirement System, alongside roughly EUR 3 billion of reinvestment from existing holders.
Visma reported revenue of EUR 1,553 million for the first half of 2025, up 13.1 percent, with adjusted EBITDA of EUR 493 million and annual recurring revenue of EUR 2.8 billion. That scale funds a continuous acquisition program rather than occasional deals, and Visma holds what it buys.
What does Visma buy?
Visma buys business critical software companies with recurring revenue, concentrated in accounting, payroll, HR, ERP, and adjacent fintech. Visma’s own acquisition page asks for cloud native products and founder led teams that want to keep building after the sale. Visma publishes no revenue or EBITDA bands, which gives Visma flexibility and gives founders no anchor.
| Criterion | What the public record shows | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Product | Software businesses cannot operate without: accounting, payroll, HR, ERP, compliance, fintech | Visma acquisition page |
| Business model | Cloud native SaaS with recurring revenue | Visma acquisition page |
| Geography | Europe and Latin America; 28 plus countries, with recent entries into France, Germany, Portugal, Peru, and Iceland | Visma December 2023 investor release |
| Stage | Shifted from mature profitable firms toward earlier stage companies with strong founding teams | Sifted, 2026 |
| Size | No published bands; average consideration near EUR 24 million across 2019 to 2023 deals | Rollup Europe analysis |
| Leadership | Founders expected to stay and keep running the company | Visma acquisition page |
Sifted reported in 2026 that Visma moved from buying mature businesses a decade ago toward identifying smaller future winners early, judged on founding team, product, and customer satisfaction. A founder running a profitable EUR 2 to 20 million revenue SaaS company in a Visma market should assume Visma already knows the company exists.
What has Visma actually acquired?
Visma states it has completed more than 300 acquisitions since 1996. The pace is industrial: Visma completed 15 acquisitions in the first half of 2025 alone, including Finmatics in Austria, Evoliz in France, and Conta Azul in Brazil. Rollup Europe counted 165 Visma acquisitions between 2019 and 2023 for total consideration above EUR 4 billion.
| Target | Year | Country | Product | Disclosed terms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raet | 2018 | Netherlands | Payroll and HCM | Not disclosed |
| Yuki | 2020 | Netherlands | Automated bookkeeping | Not disclosed |
| Holded | 2021 | Spain | SMB ERP and accounting | Reported above EUR 120 million |
| Silverfin | 2023 | Belgium | Cloud accountant workflow | Reported near EUR 300 million |
| Conta Azul | 2025 | Brazil | Cloud ERP for SMBs | Not disclosed |
| Talana | 2025 | Chile | Payroll and HR | Not disclosed |
| Finmatics | 2025 | Austria | AI document automation | Not disclosed |
What does Visma typically pay?
Visma does not publish purchase prices for the large majority of its deals. Two reported reference points exist at the larger end: Belgian accounting platform Silverfin at a reported EUR 300 million in 2023, and Spanish ERP maker Holded at a reported EUR 120 million plus in 2021. Everything below that size is a black box by design.
Rollup Europe’s analysis of 165 acquisitions from 2019 to 2023 implies average consideration near EUR 24 million per deal. The same analysis notes that Visma paid roughly 11 times revenue for Norwegian accounting vendor PowerOffice, and that Visma’s own December 2023 valuation equated to about 8 times revenue and 27 times EBITDA. Multiples on individual private deals are not disclosed, so a founder should treat any verbal benchmark offered by Visma in a negotiation as unverifiable rather than as market data.
How does Visma find companies?
Visma runs an in-house M&A function whose director of mergers and acquisitions is Sindre Talleraas Holen, supported by country level managing directors who track their local software markets. Visma also operates a public inbound channel, the Become a Visma company page, which pitches founders on keeping leadership while gaining group resources. Both channels are built to start conversations years before a sale.
Visma has not published a stated policy on competitive auctions or on sell side advisors. The sourcing model tells the story instead: direct, early, relationship led outreach exists to create bilateral negotiations, because bilateral negotiations are where serial acquirers buy well. Founders who want the other side of that story can start with Windsor Drake’s guide to handling an inbound offer.
What does a Visma approach look like?
A Visma approach typically starts with a direct message from the M&A team or a local Visma managing director, framed as relationship building rather than a bid. The pitch emphasizes autonomy: Visma’s own materials promise ‘You keep leading. We provide the rest’ and describe ownership measured in decades. Expect a long courtship, a request for financials under NDA, and an indication of value only after Visma understands the numbers.
The warmth is genuine and it is also a pricing strategy. A single buyer negotiating with an unadvised founder sets the price without competitive pressure, and Visma has run that negotiation several hundred times more often than the founder has.
What is life like after selling to Visma?
Visma publishes a claim that 70 percent of founders are still with their companies five years after acquisition. Sifted’s reporting describes light integration: acquired companies keep their brand and processes, adopt shared tools such as Slack, and founders join peer networks and boards inside the group. Visma chief commercial officer Steffen Torp frames the model as trusting the people who built the company to keep driving it.
These accounts come from Visma’s own publications and from press coverage, not from independent founder interviews. A founder weighing a Visma offer should ask to speak directly with sellers from comparable recent deals, including at least one founder who left.
Who else competes with Visma for software companies?
A European or Latin American SMB software company that fits Visma will usually also fit Vitec Software Group, the Constellation Software family through Volaris Group and Total Specific Solutions, Valsoft, and software investors such as Main Capital Partners and Hg’s other platform companies. Each of these buyers runs direct sourcing, and several will bid on the same asset when a process puts it in front of them. The overlap is the founder’s single largest source of pricing power.
What would a competitive process change?
The Proprietary Discount is the gap between what a serial acquirer pays in an unbanked bilateral negotiation and what the same business clears in a competitive process, and Windsor Drake’s work across sell side mandates puts that gap at 15 to 25 percent of enterprise value. Visma’s 300 plus acquisitions were overwhelmingly bilateral. That record is exactly what a disciplined buyer should engineer, and exactly what a seller should decline to accept as the default.
A structured process reaching 40 to 80 qualified buyers from a 200 plus acquirer universe forces Visma to price against Vitec, Constellation companies, and private equity platforms rather than against silence. Whether a full engagement is worth the fees is a fair question, answered in Windsor Drake’s guide on whether you need a banker. If Visma has already contacted you, Windsor Drake’s Approach Response engagement exists for founders holding a live inbound approach.
Questions founders ask
How many acquisitions has Visma made?
Visma states it has completed more than 300 acquisitions since its founding in 1996. The pace remains high: Visma reported 15 completed acquisitions in the first half of 2025 alone, spanning Austria, France, Belgium, Chile, and Brazil.
Who owns Visma?
Hg has been Visma’s lead investor since a $5.3 billion buyout in 2017 and first invested in 2006. A December 2023 share sale valued Visma at EUR 19 billion and added about 20 new institutional investors, including Jane Street and the New York City Retirement System.
Does Visma disclose what it pays for companies?
Visma rarely discloses purchase prices. Reported exceptions include Silverfin at a reported EUR 300 million in 2023 and Holded at a reported EUR 120 million plus in 2021. Rollup Europe’s analysis of 165 deals from 2019 to 2023 implies an average near EUR 24 million.
Will Visma let me keep running my company after selling?
Visma’s stated model keeps founders in charge, retains brands, and limits forced integration. Visma publishes a figure that 70 percent of founders remain five years after acquisition. That figure comes from Visma itself, so founders should verify it with sellers from recent comparable deals.
Does Visma buy companies outside Europe?
Yes. Visma operates in Europe and Latin America and has acquired Conta Azul in Brazil, Talana and Rindegastos in Chile, and other Latin American software companies, alongside deals in Austria, France, Belgium, and the Nordics.
Should I negotiate with Visma on my own?
A bilateral negotiation with a 300 deal serial acquirer concedes The Proprietary Discount, which Windsor Drake places at 15 to 25 percent of enterprise value. Competition from buyers such as Vitec, Volaris, or private equity platforms is the only reliable counterweight.
How fast does Visma move on a deal?
Visma builds relationships over months or years before transacting, then moves quickly once financials are shared. A founder can run a competitive process alongside a live Visma approach in 4 to 6 months, which is usually inside the window Visma will tolerate.
Last reviewed July 28, 2026 by Jeff Barrington, Founder and Managing Director, Windsor Drake. Content on this page may be cited with attribution and a link to https://windsordrake.com/acquirers/visma/