Munich/ Paris — EMZ Part­ners acqui­res majo­rity stake in Foto­Fin­der, the leading provi­der of visua­liza­tion tech­no­logy for early skin cancer detec­tion and aesthe­tics. Co-foun­der and main share­hol­der Rudolf Mayer with­draws from his share­hol­der posi­tion and entrusts the future success of Foto­Fin­der to co-foun­der Andreas Mayer, other members of the Mayer family and selec­ted members of the manage­ment team. All of the latter reinvest a signi­fi­cant portion of their proceeds or become new shareholders.

The Euro­pean private equity firm EMZ Part­ners has ente­red into a binding agree­ment to acquire a majo­rity stake in Foto­Fin­der, head­quar­te­red in Bad Birn­bach, Germany. The company’s foun­der, Rudolf Mayer, who toge­ther with his son and co-foun­der Andreas Mayer has driven the successful deve­lo­p­ment of the company and shaped Foto­Fin­der into the leading and pionee­ring brand in the field of early skin cancer detec­tion tech­no­logy, will fully retire from his role as mana­ging direc­tor and shareholder.

The signi­fi­cant (re)investments of all other exis­ting family share­hol­ders as well as other members of the manage­ment team clearly under­line the promi­sing pros­pects of the company and the firm belief in its future success.

Foto­Fin­der was foun­ded in 1991 and provi­des products and services to derma­to­lo­gists, derma­to­logy clinics, hospi­tals, scree­ning centers and rese­arch insti­tu­tes. Foto­Fin­der systems combine proprie­tary AI-based soft­ware with indus­try-leading Auto­ma­ted Total Body Mapping and Video Derma­to­scopy tech­no­logy to form inte­gra­ted skin visua­liza­tion solu­ti­ons. The company main­ta­ins close colla­bo­ra­tion with univer­si­ties and leading experts in derma­to­logy and has access to a global network of derma­to­lo­gists through its Foto­Fin­der Online Academy. The service offe­ring is comple­ted by a service port­fo­lio inclu­ding main­ten­ance, trai­ning and second opinion services.

Although FotoFinder’s core market is Germany and the DACH region, the company opera­tes globally and gene­ra­tes more than 70% of its reve­nue abroad in over 90 count­ries. Products and services are sold directly, through subsi­dia­ries, and through a world­wide network of distri­bu­tors and agents.

Driven by rising global aware­ness of skin cancer, Foto­Fin­der is pursuing attrac­tive growth opti­ons in highly regu­la­ted regio­nal medi­cal tech­no­logy markets. This includes further inter­na­tio­nal expan­sion, a stron­ger focus on tech­no­lo­gi­cally advan­ced solu­ti­ons (ATBM Master), proprie­tary AI-supported tech­no­logy, and consis­tent culti­va­tion of the adja­cent aesthe­tics and beauty market.

Shear­man & Ster­ling advi­sed EMZ Part­ners (EMZ) on the finan­cing of the acqui­si­tion of a majo­rity stake in Foto­Fin­der Systems GmbH (Foto­Fin­der), a leading provi­der of visua­liza­tion tech­no­logy for early skin cancer detec­tion and aesthetics.
The Shear­man & Ster­ling team included part­ner Winfried M. Carli and asso­ciate Daniel Wagner (both Munich Finance). The team led by part­ner Winfried M. Carli regu­larly advi­ses EMZ on finan­cings, such as the recent invest­ments in Hermann Pipers­berg, cele­brate company and Ankerkraut.

About Foto­fin­der
Foto­Fin­der, foun­ded in 1991, provi­des products and services to derma­to­lo­gists, derma­to­logy clinics, hospi­tals, scree­ning centers and rese­arch insti­tu­tes. The systems sold combine proprie­tary AI-based soft­ware with indus­try-leading Auto­ma­ted Total Body Mapping (ATBM) and video dermo­scopy tech­no­logy to form inte­gra­ted skin visua­liza­tion solutions.

About EMZ

EMZ is a leading Euro­pean invest­ment company that sees itself as a part­ner to medium-sized compa­nies. The focus of acti­vi­ties is on invest­ments along­side foun­ders, family share­hol­ders and mana­gers. EMZ is majo­rity control­led by its own employees and invests the money of insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors from Europe. From the current fund with a volume of more than one billion euros, EMZ makes invest­ments in the amount of 10 to 150 million euros.

About Shear­man & Sterling

Shear­man & Ster­ling is an inter­na­tio­nal law firm with 25 offices in 13 count­ries and appro­xi­m­ately 850 lawy­ers. In Germany, Shear­man & Ster­ling has offices in Frank­furt and Munich. The firm is one of the inter­na­tio­nal market leaders in advi­sing on complex cross-border tran­sac­tions. World­wide, Shear­man & Ster­ling prima­rily advi­ses inter­na­tio­nal corpo­ra­ti­ons and large natio­nal compa­nies, finan­cial insti­tu­ti­ons, and large mid-sized compa­nies. For more infor­ma­tion, visit www.shearman.com.