SaaS business RecruitNow opens its doors to international markets after selling to the German zvoove group

RecruitNow is a renowned and fast-growing scale-up in online recruitment. In order to open its doors to international success, the company’s owner-manager André Polderman and CCO Paul Wilkens went looking for an international partner to acquire the company. They found one in the German zvoove, the European market leader in software solutions for staffing agencies.

RecruitNow – with 20 years of experience, 60 employees and over 150 customers – is a rising star. The company offers SaaS solutions (Software as a Service) for staffing agencies and recruitment and selection firms, with its flagship product being its in-house developed ATS (Applicant Tracking System) called Cockpit. To increase its market power and scale up internationally, RecruitNow went looking for an international partner to acquire the company.

SaaS and RecruitNow are hot

The Marktlink deal team, consisting of Tom Beltman, Lars van Marrewijk and legal colleagues Tim Rikmenspoel and Wouter Homburg, guided the transaction on behalf of RecruitNow, with support from their German colleagues. The deal team has noticed an increase in transactions in IT and Software in the past year and a half. “Also internationally,” argues the deal team. “There is great interest in software companies that offer SaaS solutions. Valuations of these companies are increasingly based on multiplying the multiple by the ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue).”

In recent years, RecruitNow has become the market standard in the Netherlands for staffing agencies looking for ATS systems. To achieve international growth ambitions, it has now found the perfect partner in zvoove. The German group is the European market leader in SaaS solutions for staffing agencies and cleaning companies. Over 4,500 customers and 55,000 end users deploy its products to manage a million job applications, a workforce of 700,000 employees and an annual wage stream of 12 billion euro. Zvoove employs 400 people at 13 locations across Europe.

Knowledge and drive

Not only did the company’s SaaS solutions make RecruitNow appealing, but it was mainly André Polderman and Paul Wilkens’ knowledge and drive that sparked interest. By joining forces, it is possible to offer even more innovative solutions. Oliver Muhr (CEO zvoove): “This acquisition strengthens our European market leadership. It matches our growth strategy, through which we want to combine the best knowledge and technologies within the group. We are excited about the expected synergy benefits and exchanges between our new colleagues.”

At the start of this year, RecruitNow and zvoove signed the letter of intent. At the start of June, the deal was closed. The deal team looks back on a pleasant but intense process. “We very much enjoyed working with RecruitNow, and with André Polderman in particular. The owners had done their homework and the information that they provided us with was perfect.” André Polderman is also satisfied. “I am very happy with how the process went. Marktlink kept a close eye on things, which contributed to this success. We are looking forward to working with zvoove. Our strong independent position in the ATS market is a strategic choice, which we will vigorously pursue within zvoove. The added value of this important step is the increase in scale. We expect innovative synergies between the companies within zvoove Group. That is where RecruitNow can play an important part.”