Verdane invests in Fountain Venture portfolio, partnering with founder Jørn Lyseggen, Altor and Marlin to accelerate Meltwater’s growth

• Verdane has announced its investment in a Fountain Venture portfolio, acquiring stakes in software companies Meltwater and Jobylon.
• This investment sees Verdane partner with Fountain Venture’s owner, Jørn Lyseggen, a renowned Norwegian entrepreneur and the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Meltwater. 
• Meltwater is an exemplary European software success story, and is today the world’s leading media, social and consumer intelligence Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company. Verdane will leverage its extensive expertise in scaling European technology champions to accelerate Meltwater’s growth and cement market leadership.

Verdane, the European specialist growth investor, has today announced its investment in a Fountain Venture AS (‘Fountain Venture’) portfolio consisting of two software companies, Meltwater and Jobylon. Fountain Venture is the investment firm of Norwegian serial entrepreneur Jørn Lyseggen, the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Meltwater.

Verdane will work together with Lyseggen, Meltwater’s management including CEO John Box, and Meltwater co-owners Marlin Equity Partners and Altor to enable the next stage of Meltwater’s global growth journey. Meltwater recently announced a return to private ownership following public trading on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

Founded in Oslo, Norway in 2001, Meltwater was a pioneer in online media monitoring and now is now a global leader in media, social and consumer intelligence, with 50 offices across six continents. Today the business has 2,300 employees, 27,000 corporate customers in 120 geographies and analyses over 1 billion online documents each day. Google, Kellogg’s, AstraZeneca, Publicis Group and many more of the world’s largest brands count on Meltwater’s media, social and consumer insights to drive better business decisions. The investment in Fountain Venture was made through Verdane’s Freya XI fund, which recently closed at its €1.1 billion hard cap in an oversubscribed fundraise with an over 100% re-up rate of commitments from its predecessor fund.

Joakim Kjemperud, a Principal at Verdane, commented: “Meltwater is a true Nordic technology champion with a global footprint in a fast-growing segment. Verdane’s entrepreneurial culture has enabled a close partnership with Jørn Lyseggen, and we are delighted to work together supporting Meltwater’s next stage of growth. Our extensive expertise scaling B2B SaaS companies will help us add value to these companies’ growth journeys and cement their global leadership.”

Jørn Lyseggen, founder of Fountain Venture and Meltwater, commented: “It’s rare to find a true partner like Verdane, with an entrepreneurial mindset and deep expertise in scaling SaaS businesses. Verdane and Fountain Venture share the same vision for long-term growth and value creation at Meltwater as it continues its global growth journey. I look forward to working together with Verdane and its team of growth experts, as well as Marlin and Altor.”

John Box, CEO of Meltwater, commented: “We welcome Verdane to Meltwater and look forward to partnering with Verdane, alongside Fountain Venture, Marlin and Altor to execute on our vision and mission to be the global leader in media, social and consumer intelligence and help our customers monitor, understand, and influence the world around  them based on data insights from the outside. I am proud of our proven track record of profitable growth and look forward to working with our investors to double down on our continued success.”