Founded: 2001

Products: Unifiedpost operates and develops a 100% cloud-based real-time platform for administrative and financial services built around document, identity and payments processes.

Overview: The aim of Unifiedpost is to digitalise the various sequential steps in business administrative and financial value chains. Its services range from contract to invoice, from invoice to paid invoice, and from payment to other related processes, such as invoice financing. It does this through a cloud-based real-time platform that has a universal back-end and a front-end that can be tailored to specific customer needs. 

The platform is used to digitally generate and deliver outbound documents, process inbound documents, manage approvals, make payments and facilitate the collection of payments. It also automatically synchronises invoices and payments with their internal business systems (including accounting software), and generally helps to optimise administrative and financial processes. 

Until recently, Unifiedpost was funded by four main investors: SmartFin, Fortino Capital, and most recently, PMV and Cytiholding. In July 2020 it announced international expansion plans, fuelled by €47m in equity via a share capital increase. Existing shareholders raised €10m, the remainder came via the conversion of a majority of its outstanding convertible bonds.

However, in September 2020 it took a huge step forward, launching a private placement followed by a listing of shares on Euronext Brussels. Its aim was to raise around €160m to repay part of an acquisition financing facility (around €17m with the Belgian bank, Belfius), and thereafter to fuel its growth strategy. At the time, six new international qualified investors pre-committed a total of c.€98m in exchange for guaranteed allocations.

The company has managed significant growth in recent years. It nearly tripled its revenues to €69m between 2017 to 2019, this from a combination of organic (€28m) and inorganic (€41m) revenues. It posted 59% revenue growth in H1 2020 versus H1 2019, with revenues increasing from €21m to €33.5m.

The company has also acquired a number of organisations: Nomadesk in March 2017, Leleu Document Services in December 20018, and Baltics-based Fitek Group in April 2019. In December 2019 it acquired UK-based multi-channel, transactional document processing service provider, Prime Document. It has also been involved in the development of the eHerkenning authentication and authorisation system in the Netherlands, the launch of the JeFacture in France, and the multi-country introduction of payment options through the Billtobox platform.

Clients: Diverse portfolio of clients across a wide variety of industries (banking, leasing, utilities, media, telecommunications, travel, social security service providers, public organisations etc.) ranging from large internationals (over 250) to SMEs (over 400,000). The list includes big names such as Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Total, O2, DHL, IKEA, and SITA.

Active region(s): 15 countries: Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Switzerland, The Netherlands, United Kingdom

Partners: List includes: PwC, KPMG, BDO, Google, Canon, Post NL, Grant Thornton, ITAA (Institute for Tax advisors and Accountants – Belgium), Ordre des Experts-Comptables (France).

Employees: 750

Funding: Total Capital is €252m. In September 2020 Unifiedpost listed on the stock exchange of Euronext Brussels. In July 2020, the company received an injection of €10m and a conversion of €37m in loans by existing shareholders. In total, Unifiedpost attracted €75m in growth financing before listing.

Ownership: Public. Hans Leybaert is CEO and Founder. 

Elevator pitch: “Unifiedpost Group is a leading European FinTech group. We believe administrative and financial processes should be simple and smart. That’s why we’re a one-stop shop for business processes. We’ve taken the masses of paper that define historical administrative and financial processing and simplified it all into one online cloud platform. That means customers can pay, sign and view all their documents, contracts, payments and bills – all in one place. For businesses, it’s now easier than ever to add value-added services and set up interconnected SME ecosystems.”

Website: www.unifiedpost.com/

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +32 2 634 06 28

TMI view: Unifiedpost’s listing on Euronext has given it a huge boost. It has an ambitious ‘buy and build’ strategy that it hopes will consolidate its strong position in key European markets. A recent multi-year, global roll-out deal for its payments system, Power-to-Pay, with ubiquitous air industry messaging service, SITA, demonstrates that it can deliver at scale.  

Verdict: A fast-moving business with ambition, deep pockets and an impressive client-base.