Verdane, the European specialist growth equity investor, has agreed to acquire a significant majority stake in Papirfly Group AS, a Norway-based brand management software group, to create a global marketing technology leader. Papirfly Group consists of subsidiary companies Papirfly, Brandmaster, and Meriworks and is supported by a group of active investors including Chairman Erik Langaker. Together with the Groupโs founders and management, Verdane will leverage its deep understanding of scaling successful SaaS companies, its international network and in-house team of operating experts to accelerate Papirfly Groupโs global growth.
Founded in 2000 and based in Oslo, Norway, with offices throughout Europe, Papirfly Group provides a cloud-based, modular software platform for brand activation management (โBAMโ), helping large companies create, edit, store, and distribute their brand assets. Papirfly Group has seen significant profitable growth in recent years and is a top-3 European leader in its space, with over a million regular users worldwide as of January 2021. The Group supports over 500 brands globally, including recognised businesses such as Goldman Sachs, Unilever, BMW, Helly Hansen and Subway.
The market for brand activation management software is new and experiencing strong underlying growth. With Verdane as a partner, Papirfly will look to accelerate product development and client portfolio growth, while expanding its international footprint throughout Europe and North America through organic and inorganic growth. As the preferred growth partner to tech-enabled businesses in Europe, Verdane will use its extensive experience backing software companies and its in-house team of operational experts, Verdane Elevate, to support Papirfly grow its platform and scale its operations. Together, Verdane and Papirfly Group have the ambition to create and maintain a leading global position in the marketing technology landscape.

Joakim Kjemperud, Principal at Verdane said: โWe are very excited about the opportunity to partner with the Papirfly team and take an active role in its next growth phase. In a time of fierce competition for customer preference, Papirfly Group offers an innovative brand management toolkit for client-agency interactions, employer branding, retail marketing and corporate communications that promises to disrupt the legacy Digital Asset Management model. We look forward to deploying our deep sector expertise, networks, and operational expert teams to help Papirfly Group deliver on its promise to create distinct brand experiences that drive growth.โ
Karl Fredrik Lund, Papirflyโs Group CEO, commented: โIโm delighted to welcome Verdane as our new majority owner. With one of the most active investor in software growth companies in Northern Europe onboard, I am confident that Papirfly Group is well positioned to become a global leader within brand activation management. In a time of distributed work teams and digitalised workflows, the business need for a single internal destination to communicate brand identity consistently and effectively to global audiences is imperative. Together with Verdane, we will transform how the world engages with brands.โ
Verdane has a proven track record investing in software companies, having first invested in the sector in 2003. Its current portfolio of European software businesses includes Centra, Freespee, HappyOrNot, inRiver, Trivec, and Voyado.
The investment in Papirfly Group was made through Verdane Edda II. The parties have agreed not to disclose the financial terms of the transaction.
About Papirfly Group
Bringing together decades of experience, offices in eight countries and more than one million active users across the globe โ Papirfly Group gives brands total freedom to create their own marketing materials, and empower teams across the globe to deliver more than they ever thought possible. Our solutions simplify the challenges faced by brand driven organizations by empowering employees and other stakeholders to activate brands on a global scale and on a local level without needing specialist skills or design expertise.
About Verdane
Verdane is a specialist growth investment firm that partners with tech-enabled and sustainable European businesses. Verdane can invest as a minority or majority investor, either in single companies or through portfolios of companies, and looks to deploy inside two core growth themes; digitalisation and decarbonisation.
Verdane funds hold over โฌ6 billion in total commitments and have made over 400 investments in fast-growing businesses since 2003. Verdaneโs team of over 140 investment professionals and operating experts, based out of Berlin, Munich, Copenhagen, Helsinki, London, Oslo and Stockholm, is dedicated to being the preferred growth partner to tech-enabled and sustainable businesses in Europe.
Verdane is also a certified B Corporation, the most ambitious sustainability accreditation globally. The firm only backs businesses that pass its 2040 test, which indicates whether the company can thrive in a more sustainable future economy.
Verdane is partly owned by the Verdane Foundation, which is focused on two areas: climate change and more equitable and inclusive local communities.
More info: www.verdane.com โฏ
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