Seasons greetings from Viking Venture

2020 has been a different and challenging year for all. Together with our portfolio companies we have worked hard to face the unexpected and find ways to seize the opportunities. We are impressed by the dedication the employees of our companies have shown. They worked diligently on building new plans and acting on them while keeping energy levels high and being thoughtful and considerate at the same time.

We are humble and proud to report that 2020 has been our best year ever. We have invested more than NOK 700 million in exciting software companies and have added four new companies to our portfolio – now consisting of 17 Business-To-Business (B2B) growth stage software companies. We have listed two companies, Mercell and House of Control, with a total value of more than NOK 5 000 million and have done one majority recap when EcoOnline was acquired by Goldman Sachs and Summa. Our portfolio companies have made 15 add-on acquisitions and raised more than NOK 1 500 million in debt.

But most importantly, we have stayed healthy and continue to work efficiently from our home offices. We do not miss travelling, but we miss people.

However, this is a time to wind down and take special care of our nearest and dearest. We wish you all a very happy holiday season and a happy New Year!

This year’s donation goes to NepaliMed Norway. It is a Norwegian charity, with its roots in the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and St. Olavs Hospital in Trondheim, Norway. NepaliMed Norway works to help Dhulikhel Hospital in Nepal with medical training, continuous development and financial funding on a long term basis.

Highlights from 2020

New investments

• Flowbox gives its customers a customer driven marketing tool. With this the customers can collect user generated content (UGC) like images and videos to boost conversion, engagement and loyalty.
• FotoWare offers Digital Asset Management (DAM) and Digital Evidence Management (DEM) solutuions which enable organizations to have a central system to store all their important digital assets. This way everyone can find, share and reuse their images, videos and documents much more efficiently.
• TimeLog offers a complete Professional Service Automation (PSA) solution for easy time tracking, efficient project and resource management, automated invoicing and real time reporting.
• Undisclosed investment – stay tuned for news about another exciting software company early january 2021.

Exits, reinvestments and Initial Public offerings (IPOs)

• Exit and reinvestment in EcoOnline
  During the spring of 2020 Goldman Sachs acquired EcoOnline and became the majority shareholder. Together with Goldman Sachs and Summa Equity we will continue to accelerate EcoOnline’s international expansion and strengthen the company’s market leading position and unique product offering.
• IPO of Mercell
  In July we listed Mercell on the Merkur Market at Oslo Stock Exhange. The IPO of NOK 850 million attracted very strong interest from international and Nordic quality institutional investors and was more than 10 times oversubscribed. Mercell completed a second private placement in November and raised approximately NOK 1,300 million. Mercell also issued a bond of SEK 1,100 million. We are lead investor and the largest shareholder in Mercell and will continue to support their rapid growth.
• IPO of House of Control
  House of Control’s successful completion on the Merkur Market at Oslo Stock Exhange in October raised NOK 650 million. The private placement was seven times oversubscribed and attracted very strong interest from US, UK, European, Nordic and Norwegian quality institutional investors.

Add-on investments within our portfolio

• View Software has made three acquisitions throughout 2020, Avector AB (Swe), Pixelwerk AS (Nor), Entro IT (Nor)
• Skooler acquired Loops Education in March
• Humly acquired Pedagogpoolen in June, expanding their footprint in the Swedish market
• Mercell has made four acquisitions, Aksess Innkjøp (Nor), TrueLink (Den), Tricom (Den), Comcare (Den) and Visma Commerce (SWE).
• EcoOnline acquired Airsweb in july to fuel further growth
• House of Control made their first acquisition by acquiring DinERP and followed this by acquiring Effectplan International AB which further strengthens their CFO toolkit
• Asolvi acquired TivAPP , located in Germany. This expands their commitment to DACH market.
• Xait completed the acquisition of UK based BlueprintCPQ in November 2020 which adds new functionality and strengthens their UK market share

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