DRS Investment GmbH invests in software specialist Ascora
New private equity player starts with first investment in German market
Munich/Germany, 22 March 2018 – The private investment company DRS Investment acquires the software company Ascora GmbH from company founder Dr. Sven Abels. He will remain in the company as managing director and has re-invested 50 percent into the anchor investment in order to build up a software group in partnership with DRS Investment for the digitization of business processes.
Ascora specialises in consumer software, data management in cloud-based areas and digitisation services for medium-sized companies. The aim of the investment is to further develop and internationalise the company, particularly in the B2B sector.
Ascora GmbH, Ganderkesee, was founded in 1994 by the computer scientist Dr. Sven Abels. The organisation has become an established partner for the digitization of business processes and employs more than 30 software developers. Ascora currently has more than 12 million software licenses in use. This makes the company one of the German software developers with the highest reach. In addition, Ascora is consortium leader for several research projects in the areas of Industry 4.0 and eHealth (EU, BMBF).
Growth through acquisitions
With the participation of DRS Investment, the B2B activities of Ascora
will be considerably expanded. By acquiring software companies, the specialist wants to open up new business fields and become a platform for numerous applications in the B2B environment. “The software developers behind Ascora have an in-depth expertise in the area of secure data management and scaling of large data volumes,” says Dr. Andreas Spiegel, Managing Partner of DRS Investment GmbH. “Small and medium-sized enterprises in particular can benefit from this development power and thus drive forward the digitization and automation of their business processes.”
The aim of the investors is to support the further development of Ascora GmbH in the long term. Ascora founder Abels says: “With DRS Investment we have found an experienced partner who knows how to accelerate growth through acquisitions and make Ascora’s core competencies available for new business areas.”
DRS Investment GmbH was founded in 2017 by the entrepreneur and investor Dr. Andreas Spiegel with the support of other investors from the private equity sector in order to invest privately in companies and to develop them further in the long term. Spiegel (born 1974) has been working in the private equity sector for several years and has accompanied various transactions (entry and exit). He holds a doctorate in business administration and has previously worked in consulting and as managing director in various industries in Germany and abroad. Spiegel has founded several companies himself and is a specialist for growth. He and the selected group of investors contribute exclusively parts of their private capital. Currently, DRS has 10 million Euro available for direct investments, further funds remain on call. A special focus lies on technology-oriented growth enterprises.
About DRS Investment
DRS Investment GmbH, Munich, is a private investment company with currently 10 million Euro in private funds for direct investments. DRS was founded in 2017 by the entrepreneur and investor Dr. Andreas Spiegel with the support of other private equity investors with the aim of acquiring small and medium-sized companies in order to manage and develop them over the long term. A special focus lies on technology-oriented growth companies.
About Ascora
Ascora GmbH is a medium-sized, owner-managed software company with headquarter in Ganderkesee near Bremen. The company develops consumer software for Windows and Mac as well as smartphone apps and participates in various research and development projects in Germany and Europe. Since its foundation in 1994, Ascora has become an established partner for the digitization of business processes and today employs more than 30 software developers. With over 12 million users, Ascora GmbH is one of the largest providers of software solutions for consumers in Germany. Ascora received among others the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Award and the 2018 Growth Champion Award from Focus and Statista. It was also included in Focus Business’s list of “Top SME Employers 2018.
More information can be found at: www.ascora.net