The Hague, 12th of April 2021 – Main Capital has acquired a majority stake in Paragin, a leading provider of software aimed at competence, knowledge and talent development for education and (semi-)government. Paragin’s solutions provide active support in testing, certification and career guidance. The company is based in Nijkerk and currently has approximately 25 employees.
Paragin’s customer base consists of more than 140 customers. These are mainly ROCs, HBOs and universities (including Utrecht University, Erasmus University, The Hague University of Applied Sciences and Deltion College), educational publishers such as Noordhoff and commercial training and examination institutes (such as NIMA, LOI and Eureka), but the company also has a strong selection of (semi) public customers such as the FNV, Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC), the Federation of Medical Specialists and municipalities such as Groningen and Roermond. Thanks to careful implementation and a strong product range, Paragin has been able to build up a loyal and satisfied customer base in the education and (semi-)public sector.
Three products are central to Paragin’s portfolio: RemindoToets, MijnPortfolio and RemindoEVC. RemindoToets enables customers to manage a complete test and exam process from an online environment. MijnPortfolio actively supports customers in education and business with training, career development, mobility and other work-related challenges. RemindoEVC supports recognized EVC-providers in their EVC- and EVP-processes. All products are characterized by innovative functionality, reliable performance and international deployment.
Partnership Paragin and Main
- The current management team Jeroen Bakker (CEO) and Peter de Blieck (CTO) will stay on board and invests, besides Main Capital, in Paragin.
- Paragin and Main will work together to realize further organic growth within the different segments in the market for education software.
- In addition, the combination will pursue a selective Buy & Build strategy for acquisitions in the broader educational software market.
Jeroen Bakker and Peter de Blieck, Management of Paragin: “We are looking forward to further develop Paragin in cooperation with Main into a leading software provider in the education market, within The Netherlands and beyond. We see Main Capital as a strategic partner with a great vision to realize the ambitious growth plans and further professionalization of our company. This is made possible by the technical and commercial expertise of Paragin, combined with the knowledge and (inter)national experience of Main.”
Sjoerd Aarts, Sr. Investment Manager at Main Capital Partners: “The learning software market is very interesting and offers various growth opportunities on a national and international level. We are very excited about the opportunities we see in working together with Paragin’s management team. Paragin has shown impressive results in the past years and is strongly positioned to continue this line and to benefit from the digitization trend in this sector. The growth strategy we will implement together will have both a national and international focus. A large and strongly growing segment where we see a lot of opportunities is ‘lifelong learning’ (permanent education), where learning is not limited to school but also remains important throughout one’s career.”
About Paragin
Paragin is active in the Dutch market with software aimed at competence, knowledge and talent development for large and small organizations in education and business. Paragin also has several international customers. Paragin offers smart products that each support a specific part of the user’s development process, ranging from software for testing and examining to an e-learning platform, certification, career development and ePortfolios. Paragin offers solutions that are user-friendly, efficient and attractively designed and can be used nationally and internationally.
About Main Capital Partners
Main Capital is a strategic investor with an exclusive focus on the software sector in the Benelux, DACH and Nordics. Main has a long term horizon around successful partnerships with management teams, with the aim of building larger software groups together. Main has approximately € 1 billion in assets under management for investments in mature and growing software companies. Within the software sector, Main is the most specialized player in management buyouts and later-stage growth capital for acquisitions. An experienced team of professionals manages these strategic investment funds from offices in The Hague, Düsseldorf and Stockholm.
Main Capital’s current portfolio includes fast growing software and SaaS-software companies such as FOCONIS (DACH, financial services software), Relyon (NL, fieldservice management), Perbility (DACH, HR software), Pointsharp (SE, Security Software) MACH AG (DACH, government software), Textkernel (NL, HR software), Exxellence (NL, government software), WoodWing (NL, ECM/DAM software), Alfa (SE, healthcare/government software), Optimizers (NL, SCM software), Assessio (SE, HR software), GBTEC (DACH, BPM/GRC software), Onventis (DACH, procurement software), HYPE Innovation (DACH, innovation management software), cleversoft (DACH, RegTech), Enovation (NL, healthcare software), SDB Group (NL, healthcare HR software), Jobrouter (DACH, BPM/WFM software), GOconnectIT (NL, GIS/FSM software), Inergy (NL, BI software), KING Software (NL, ERP/accounting software), Artegic (DACH, marketing software), OBI4wan (NL, social media monitoring software), b + m Informatik (DACH financial services software), ChainPoint (NL, SCM software) and Sofon (NL, CRM/CPQ software).
Successful former companies that grew significantly under Main’s leadership include Connexys (HR software), Roxit (NL, government software), Axxerion (NL, facilities management software), Ymor (NL, APM software), Onguard (NL, credit management software), TPSC (NL, healthcare GRC software) and RVC (NL, healthcare software).
Note for the editor:
This press release is issued by Main Capital. For more information please contact:
Charly Zwemstra (Managing Partner)
Main Capital Partners B.V., Paleisstraat 6, 2514 JA, Den Haag
Tel: +31 (0) 70 324 3433 / +31 (0) 6 5127 7805
charly@main.nl
www.main.nl
Jeroen Bakker (CEO)
Paragin B.V.
Bunschoterweg 39, 3861 MK Nijkerk
Tel: +31 (0) 33 205 3007
bakker@paragin.nl
www.paragin.nl
