Paris, Thursday March 14, 2024 – NextStage AM enters the capital of Efalia, alongside Bpifrance Investissement and BNP Développement, during a capital transfer operation in which Pascal Charrier, general manager since 2016 and the key managers jointly become majority shareholders of the group. Efalia thus intends to accelerate its development in order to consolidate its position as a key player in the dematerialization market in France and Europe.
Efalia publishes a high-performance, open and modular software suite for dematerialization and content management that helps organizations simplify access to information, the sharing of knowledge and facilitates work processes. The company, which today has 160 employees, was created in 1982, before being bought by Etienne Paillard in 2011. It has since established itself among the leaders in the dematerialization of documents and processes and is today , with more than 2.500 professional clients (both public organizations and private companies), a recognized reference in the content management ecosystem.
Pascal Charrier joined Efalia as Managing Director in 2016. Under his leadership, the company carried out 8 external growth operations in France and internationally and, relying on a growing market, multiplied its turnover. business by 4 to reach nearly 20 million euros in direct sales, but also thanks to its network of partners.
This transfer operation marks the handover from Etienne Paillard to Pascal Charrier, at a time when the company intends to accelerate its development, while “zero paper” and artificial intelligence will create new needs and new opportunities for organic and external growth.
Estimated at nearly 10 billion euros in 2023, with average annual growth of 5,4% for 3 years, the growth of the dematerialization market can be explained by various factors, such as regulations (generalization of electronic invoices for companies from 2026 for example) or digitalization, a major performance issue for all modern organizations.
To support this transfer, NextStage AM, through its Championnes III and Capital Entrepreneur investment programs, joins BNP Développement, present in the group's capital since 2021, alongside Bpifrance. Thus accompanied by professional investors, this operation should enable Efalia to successfully carry out its ambitious growth strategy, around two main axes: the provision and development of innovative solutions (AI, Business Intelligence, Data Visualization in particular) and the extension of its presence in Europe (both through organic and external growth).
“We are enthusiastic to welcome NextStage AM and Bpifrance Investissement as part of this operation, which also allows key managers to be associated with the company's capital. Present across the entire dematerialization value chain, we have the desire to serve our customers with a 'one-stop-shop' approach and the ambition to become a leading player at European level.", declares Pascal Charrier, Managing Director of Efalia.
“Efalia is a pioneer in the dematerialization of 'full web' documents and has been able to build a high-performance software suite, capable of addressing all the issues linked to the digitalization of public and private organizations. It is today a reference within the content management ecosystem. Convinced that going paperless is the future of successful organizations, we are delighted to take part today in this transfer operation, which will allow Pascal and his main managers to become the majority, then to support them in the pursuit of their 'Buy and Build' strategy. This operation represents the 6th investment made by NextStage AM in the Lyon ecosystem of software platforms », comments Aloys de Fontaines, Partner at NextStage AM.
Speakers:
Contractors: Etienne Paillard (Outgoing), Pascal Charrier
NextStage AM: Aloys de Fontaines (Partner), Agathe Anquetil (Affairs Manager), Victor Commissaire (Analyst)
NextStage AM tips:
- Finance: Eight Advisory (Sandrine Vouillon, Paul Ferrage)
- Legal: Duteil (David Marlet)
- Legal advisor: Duteil (David Marlet)
Advice from the Efalia group:
- M&A Advisory: Cambon Partners (Guillaume Teboul, Julien Skornik, Yahia Sarif)
- Legal Counsel: Ydes (Cécile Baron)
- VDD: Exelmans (Stéphane Dahan, Yankel Elbaz, Alexis Panquet, Edouard Debarge)
Bpifrance Investissement:
- Lionel Giai-Gischia (Senior Investment Director)
- Fanny Guzman (Business manager)
BNP Development : Ludovic Robert (Director of Investments)
About NextStage AM:
Independent management company based in Paris, approved by the AMF, NextStage AM, which has cultivated an “entrepreneur-investor” philosophy since its inception in 2002, is one of the pioneers and leaders of innovative and patient development capital in France. NextStage AM has developed step by step, a multi-strategy Private Equity platform which represents, in terms of assets, managed and advised, as of December 31, 2023, directly and indirectly, nearly €8 billion in AUM. NextStage AM invests in a limited number of SMEs and ETIs (82 portfolio companies as of 31/12/2023), French and European, innovative, and growth, to which it provides entrepreneurial investor expertise and strong operational support (integration environmental innovation, talents, international, external growth). NextStage AM provides long-term support to these SMEs & ETIs involved in smart health, environmental innovation and Digital. It gives them the means to accelerate their development and their capacity for innovation to become “Champions” of their markets, both in France and internationally, through organic and/or external growth.
Press contacts:
NextStage AM : Ghita Farage – gf@nextstage.com - 01 44 29 99 04
Shan Agency : nextstage@shan.fr
Lola Gozlan – 06 24 76 83 40 / Anne-Laure Daulier – 06 28 59 50 38
About the Efalia Group
Founded in 1982 and acquired by Etienne Paillard in 2011, Efalia is a global and modular software platform for dematerialization and content management that simplifies access to information, sharing documents and facilitates collaborative processes within organizations. The Efalia suite covers the entire spectrum of digital document management in business. The group has solutions for information capture, document and content management, business process management, electronic signature, interactive document composition, a certified digital safe and dematerialization at source .
The end-to-end software suite is aimed at a professional clientele bringing together major players in the public and private sector (+ 2.500 clients), and is structured around three ranges, perfectly interfaced with each other:
- Desktop publishing: digitalization solutions, design and production of electronic documents (invoices, pay slips, interactive letters, etc.)
- EDM: storage, management and distribution of cross-functional electronic content to different functional and organizational entities.
- Portal: dematerialization of exchanges through an online procedure portal (after-sales service, customer relationship management, electronic signature, etc.)
Contacts:
Efalia : Christophe Bastard – cbastard@efalia.com - 06 12 38 64 32
Press service : Odile Pin – odilepin@r2po.fr – 06 81 80 35 46
