Company Name
DataChecker
Website
https://datachecker.nl/en/
Transaction
Sell-side
Types
Pre-exit
Sector
Business Services
Market
International
With Capital A and a new CEO, DataChecker takes a big step towards growth
To fully exploit its growth potential, DataChecker found an investor in Capital A, which acquired a majority share in the business, specialised in smart solutions for online identification and verification. By means of a pre-exit, the current owners take a step back. Joe Bloemendaal joined the shareholders and now fulfils the role of CEO.
It has come full circle for DataChecker and Joe Bloemendaal; in 2009 he was one of the founders of the company. When Walter Codée, one of the shareholders, called to ask him to come back, Joe Bloemendaal did not need to think long. “After selling DataChecker to Walter, I joined a Dutch identity verification company, which was later sold to an American enterprise. Those were intense and trying years: lots of travelling, hard work and very rarely at home. It was during the corona period that I discovered that I actually liked being at home. I consciously took things easy for a while, until this opportunity crossed my path.”
Parial sale
From a startup to a successful business with loads of growth potential, that is the best description of DataChecker. For Joe it was just what he was looking for. “I wasn’t really up for getting another startup off the ground. Walter has built up and expanded the company nicely in the past years. With a Partial Sale to Capital A and me as the new CEO, he can shift his focus back to development and strategy. And up to me the great task to lift the company to a higher operational level.”
Joe Bloemendaal was fully aware of how special his position in this acquisition process was. “Just like Capital A, I was a buyer as well, and so I had interests of my own. At the same time, I was already more or less part of the DataChecker team, that threw an extra element in the mix. Marktlink’s deal team handled that very well. Even though we’re all entrepreneurs, an acquisition process like this is bound to arouse some degree of aversion or dissatisfaction in all of us. It is great to have a team that is able to manage that.”
International growth potential
With the partial acquisition by Capital A, DataChecker has taken a first step towards a larger platform. Although many parties were interested in a strategic acquisition, the men chose to write their own story. Not that astonishing, according to M&A specialist Luc Keltjens. “DataChecker is a fast growing tech company with considerable international growth potential in the coming years. In addition, the shareholders can add value by means of acquisitions in a market characterised by among other things a wave of consolidation.”
