Exit für Acton Capital: Malt übernimmt Freelancer-Plattform COMATCH
Paris/Berlin — Europe’s biggest freelancer marketplace Malt, has acquired COMATCH, the curated marketplace for independent management consultants and industry experts, to reinforce its European leadership on the freelancing market. The acquisition extends Malt’s community of high-skilled freelancers to business consultants and takes Malt closer to reaching €1bn business volume by 2024. With a freelancing market valued at €355bn, Malt projects to become the undisputed leader and the preferred partner for companies seeking external resources in Europe.
Founded in 2014 by McKinsey alumni Dr. Christoph Hardt and Dr. Jan Schächtele and backed by Acton Capital since 2016, Comatch has established Europe’s leading marketplace for top freelance management consultants and industry experts with clients ranging from startups to large corporates. Since its launch, Comatch has built a strong community of more than 15,000 top independent management consultants and industry experts and has grown across nine markets with 130 full-time employees in Berlin, Paris and London.
Home to a community of 340,000 freelancers, the largest in Europe, Malt will now be on its way to offer Europe’s most comprehensive network of high-skilled freelancers and management consultants, making Malt the ideal partner for all business activities. As a result, clients will now benefit from a marketplace with the best subject-matter specialists on hand to solve business challenges from strategy to execution. Combined, the two companies work with 80% of the CAC-40 and DAX-40 companies and together will build the largest European client network with more than 1,000 enterprises.
Fueled by digital transformation and the increasing need to fill specific roles, both companies have witnessed a sharp uptake in client demand for independent resources. The acquisition sends a strong signal of Malt’s place in the ecosystem at a time of tremendous growth in the European freelance market, currently valued at 355 billion euros.
United over a shared vision of the future of work, one in which everyone has the power to choose how and whom they work with, Malt and Comatch will focus their efforts on market-facing synergies to broaden the offerings for their clients and their community of highly-skilled freelancers. The growth of the combined company will be supported by the hiring of 150 new employees, bringing the total count to 600 by the end of 2022. The extension of services also means that dedicated teams will now work across eleven regions and countries, including Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the Middle East and North Africa, the Netherlands, Nordics, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.
Vincent Huguet, Malt CEO: “Comatch is a champion in the field of business consulting marketplaces. As a fellow company that shares Malt’s “community first” approach, placing our talents at the core of the product and business to our vision for the future of work, we are eager and excited to bring our two worlds of high-skilled freelancers together.”
Christoph Hardt, Comatch Co-Founder and Managing Director: “We believe in a future where technology and business consulting continue to grow closer together. Malt is Europe’s leading marketplace especially for digital freelance talents while Comatch is the largest European consulting marketplace. We are very excited to jointly build Europe’s undisputed leading marketplace where organizations can find the best independent professionals for any possible project.”
About Malt
Founded in 2013 by Vincent Huguet (CEO) and Hugo Lassiège (CTO), with Alexandre Fretti as Managing Director in Paris, Malt is a European marketplace where more than 340,000 freelance consultants put their skills and expertise at the service of companies looking for external talents to accelerate their projects. It already has more than 30,000 clients, including 36 CAC 40 companies. With 300 employees (50% women and men), Malt is present in France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany.
About COMATCH
Comatch is Europe’s leading marketplace for top freelance management consultants and industry experts. Comatch combines personal service and innovative technology to quickly and flexibly find the best experts for allbusiness challenges. Companies of all sizes and industries – from start-ups to corporations – use the support ofComatch.com to achieve sustainable project success. The curated Comatch network includes more than 15,000consultants from over 120 countries. Comatch was founded in 2014 by McKinsey alumni Dr. Christoph Hardt and Dr. Jan Schächtele and employs over 130 people in Berlin, Paris and London.
About Acton Capital
Acton Capital is a leading growth venture capital investor in Europe. Since 1999, the Acton team supports digital startups in the fields of B2B/SaaS, HealthCare, FinTech or Future of Work on their way to market leadership. Acton Capital invests worldwide with strong focus on Europe and North America. With two decades of investment experience and a deep understanding of tech-enabled models, the team has invested over EUR 700 million across five fund generations in +100 companies, including unicorns like AlphaSights, Clio, Etsy, HomeToGo or Mambu.