Cow Hills finds new long-term partner in DL Software

November 24, 2022

Cow Hills and NewPort Capital (“NewPort”) today announced that they have reached an agreement to sell 100% of the shares to DL Software, a France based vertical software provider active in various sectors (backed by TA Associates). Founders Kees van der Veldt (CEO) and Mark de Graaf (COO/CTO) will stay on as Cow Hills’ leadership team.

Headquartered in Maarn in the Netherlands, Cow Hills was founded in 2006 and has sales offices in South Africa and Norway. It has since developed into the Benelux market leader of unified commerce SaaS solutions for international online and offline retailers and is currently active in over 20 countries. In the past few years Cow Hills experienced strong growth, which provides a solid foundation to accelerate its international growth strategy together with DL Software.

There is a strong strategic rationale for the transaction, with clear benefits for both companies. Cow Hills and DL Software have complementary software solutions and will be able to leverage each other’s experience, customer base, product development capabilities, international organisation and vision. Cow Hills will operate as a stand-alone business within DL Software and perfectly fits the international expansion strategy of DL Software.

Kees van der Veldt, Cow Hills CEO: “We are grateful to NewPort for their support and confidence over the past years. Together we developed Cow Hills to become what it is today. Together with NewPort we have strongly invested in software development, international growth, further professionalisation of the organisation and switching to a fully recurring revenue model. All of us at Cow Hills are very excited to continue our growth story and to join forces with DL Software as we feel this is the best way to secure our long-term strategic goals.”

Rob van der Laan, Managing Partner at NewPort: “We are proud of our successful partnership with Cow Hills. The team significantly increased its customer base and has rolled-out innovative new software solutions such as self-checkout, mobile POS, Pin on Glass and online basket calculation at an international client base. It is great to see that these products have improved the customer experience and operational efficiency for their clients in over 20 countries. Cow Hills is now ready for the next strategic step with DL Software”.

Jacques Ollivier, DL Software CEO: “We are delighted to welcome Cow Hills to the DL Software Group. This operation opens the doors of Northern Europe for our Retail ERP offer, and more widely confirms our European ambition for all our specialized ERP. We are very happy and proud to welcome the 35 employees of Cow Hills. Their level of expertise and the high quality of their offer promise us a common development rich in human and technological adventures!”

| About Cow Hills
Cow Hills is a best-in-class provider of unified commerce software solutions for leading international retailers. Established in 2006 and headquartered in Maarn (NL) it has sales offices in South Africa and Norway. Cow Hills employs 35 people and serves its customers in over 20 countries. The SaaS based software is based on modular, cloud-native technology with a single software suite that offers online and offline integration with an omnichannel solution. Besides the point of sale solution, offerings include self-checkout, online basket calculation, pin on glass, back office and mobile point of sale. Cow Hills stands out for its technology, implementation speed, new developments, maintainability and international availability. Also see: www.cowhills.com

| About DL Software
Founded in 2003, DL Software is a specialized ERP software publisher. The group has more than 20 verticalized software publishers mainly divided into four divisions (Retail, Real Estate, Healthcare, Construction). Since 2021, DL Software has been backed by TA Associates, a leading private equity firm, particularly active in technology investments. Also see: www.dlsoftware.fr

| About NewPort Capital
NewPort is focused on investments in Dutch (often internationally active) mid-market companies in software, manufacturing, (financial) services industries and the food & packaging sector. Typically, these companies have an annual operating profit ranging between € 2 and € 7 million. NewPort realizes growth by working together with and supporting entrepreneurial management teams. Also see: www.newport.capital

| Advisors
Cow Hills and NewPort were advised by Alantra (M&A), DLA (legal), Deloitte (financial & tax due diligence), Software Improvement Group (IT due diligence) and OC&C (commercial due diligence).