The German e-commerce agency creativestyle joins the Smile group, a European leader in digital and open source, with the support of Keensight Capital
creativestyle GmbH, based in Munich (Germany), joins the Smile Group, a European open source technology leader. creativestyle will develop on the German market with the support of its Polish entity, and will benefit from Smile's expertise to strengthen its client offering.
The project benefits from the active support of the management of the two companies as well as the shareholders of the Smile group: Keensight Capital, one of the main private equity funds dedicated to pan-European Growth Buyout1 investments, and Eurazeo through its Small-Mid team. Buyout.
Smile and creativestyle are thus combining their expertise and know-how in open source technologies in the fields of digital services and e-commerce in order to innovate and best meet the expectations of their customers in Germany and in German-speaking countries. The objective of this operation is to develop in these markets by combining creativestyle's expertise with Smile's capabilities, technologies and solutions, while relying on the group's international presence.
creativestyle will be part of the Smile group, a European leader in open digital and open source (consulting, innovation, integration, infrastructure). Smile contributes each year to hundreds of strategic digital projects for the largest French and European accounts via high-level innovative solutions and concepts.
Founded in 2001, creativestyle is based in Munich with offices in Hamburg, Krakow and Rybnik. With a team of over 85 digital experts, creativestyle is one of Germany's leading agencies for consulting, backend integration, operations and customer experience in the e-commerce sector, for which it is regularly awarded with prizes, such as the Shop Usability Awards.
The acquisition of creativestyle is in line with Smile's Open Arrow strategic plan, which aims in particular to increase the group's geographic coverage. creativestyle will benefit from the continued development of Smile on an international scale, with the support of its shareholders in this process. creativestyle, thanks to its Polish entity and all of its experts, will strengthen the skills and know-how of the Smile group.
Marc Palazon, CEO of Smile Group, says “Entry into the German market is decisive in strengthening Smile's leadership in the field of open source in Europe. We are convinced that the creation of a European digital and open source champion will strongly contribute to the success of our customers and partners. creativestyle has shown rapid growth, in particular thanks to its capacities in Poland and its high-level expertise. Smile and creativestyle share a similar corporate culture and state of mind, which were decisive in setting up this partnership. We look forward to working with creativestyle's outstanding managers and teams. »
Jaromir Fojcik and Krzysztof Daniel, founders and directors of creativestyle, add: “We are pleased to continue developing our open source strategy with Smile. In addition to our current consulting and web development services in the B2C sector, we will develop our B2B offer and our digital solutions throughout the German-speaking region. In addition, we will greatly increase our remote intervention capacities, in order to guarantee our customers, wherever they are, access to a large team of developers, in a context where qualified experts are scarce. Joining Smile gives us the wonderful opportunity to carry out ambitious projects for major accounts on an international scale. »
Stanislas de Tinguy, partner at Keensight Capital, concludes: “We are proud to support Smile in this new stage of its international development, within the framework of the Open Arrow strategic plan. Following the recent acquisitions of UX-Republic and alter way, this new build-up will be decisive in strengthening Smile's position as the European leader in open source digital solutions with high added value. This acquisition is a key step in Smile's ambitious growth strategy. »
