29 October 2024
Sycomore is pleased to announce that Sagard NewGen acquired FuturMaster, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider of Supply Chain Planning and Revenue Growth Management solutions, from its founder and Cathay Capital. Sagard NewGen becomes the Group’s majority shareholder alongside the management team and Cathay Capital, who reinvest in the new transaction.
FuturMaster, with its Bloom platform, offers a comprehensive suite of SaaS-based solutions for the end-to-end supply chain planning and revenue optimisation of large enterprises and mid-sized companies worldwide. FuturMaster solutions transform the complexity of business operations into levers of performance and resilience, offering competitive advantage in a volatile and uncertain environment. Thanks to cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, digital twin modelling and operational research, FuturMaster enables its customers to better plan for demand, and adapt their operational response by optimising production, distribution and supply plans.
FuturMaster’s platform is used daily by many leading companies in all sectors, including Heineken, L’Oréal, TotalEnergies and SNCF, in over 90 countries. The group is profitable, with growth of c.30% per year, and generates over €30 million in revenue, over a third of which is generated outside France. It employs nearly 200 people in France, the UK, Singapore and China.
Sagard NewGen’s acquisition of FuturMaster marks a key milestone in its history. Its Chief Executive Officer, Yacine Zeroual, succeeds Bo Zhou, the Group’s founding Chairman and majority shareholder, who is stepping down as part of the deal.
Yacine Zeroual, CEO of FuturMaster, said: ‘We are delighted to begin this new chapter with Sagard NewGen, which shares our ambition to become a global leader in Supply Chain Planning and Revenue Growth Management solutions. With the support of Sagard NewGen and Cathay Capital, and backed by a talented and committed team, we will accelerate our international expansion while continuing to offer our customers innovative solutions to transform their complexity into sustainable competitive advantage in a constantly changing world.’
Bérangère Barbe and Guillaume Lefebvre, Partners at Sagard NewGen, added: ‘We are delighted to support Yacine and his team in the next stages of FuturMaster’s development in Europe and beyond. This project, alongside the management team, is based above all on the continuity of the company’s strategy of product innovation and internationalisation. This transaction, which opens up the capital more widely to the company’s management team, is perfectly in line with Sagard NewGen’s Growth Buyout strategy.’
Jérémie Falzone, Partner at Cathay Capital, stated: ‘Since acquiring a stake in FuturMaster in 2020, we have been proud to support the company, which has successfully developed innovative SaaS-based supply chain management solutions and expanded its business with major companies that are leaders in their sectors. We are delighted to continue our partnership with Sagard NewGen and the company’s management to accelerate FuturMaster’s international growth.’
In the context of this Transaction, Sycomore Corporate Finance acted as Financial Advisor to Sagard NewGen. The transaction team comprised Tristan Dupont and Etienne Baudoin.