Verdane new majority owner in pay by phone parking provider EasyPark

Following the transaction Verdane owns over 50% of the company, alongside previous owners Ledstiernan, Marinvest and members of the management team. Verdane is a fund that invests in Nordic growth companies, often through so called portfolio transactions where several holdings are acquired at once.

EasyPark has over a number of years built a strong position in the Nordic phone parking market with nearly 200 contracts with cities and parking operators. By providing a phone parking solution that works in all Nordic countries, EasyPark delivers unique value to cities, parking operators and motorists.

EasyPark has made significant investments in a mobile payment platform for parking transactions with complex tariffs and rules. For cities, the platform provided by EasyPark results in a cost efficient solution, because the scale of the operation can be leveraged more than any single city could. For motorists, the biggest value is convenience and the ability to avoid over-payment and parking fines. With the new Smartphone applications for iPhone and Android, the interface to use EasyPark phone parking services has become even more intuitive. Customer satisfaction is high and in a recent survey, 94% of EasyPark customers say that they like the service.

“The value we can create for cities and parking operators is directly proportional to the coverage. For motorists, having a single service regardless of where they go is the key value driver. For cities, the cost for maintaining and developing the solution decreases with every new city making it more and more cost effective” says Johan Birgersson, CEO of EasyPark Group. “When growing the coverage in the Nordics we think that Verdane, with its truly Nordic focus, will be a valuable partner for EasyPark.”

The new and the existing owners make it possible to continue with platform investments to serve tomorrow’s drivers with services such as payment of electric vehicle charging and GPS capability in Smartphone applications. They can also support the company in entering new markets.

“We have followed EasyPark since 2006 and we are deeply impressed with the journey the company has made. It is rare to see a company delivering on their ambitious plans year after year” says Lars B Thoresen, Managing Partner at Verdane Capital Advisors. “Verdane funds have a 25 year history of investing in Nordic growth and technology companies and EasyPark’s needs fit well with what Verdane can contribute with as an owner.”

Verdane funds have invested in close to 250 companies over the past 10 years. Many of those have had a strong Nordic position with the potential for growth outside the region. Portfolio companies Dibs Payment Services (online payment services provider) and TradeDoubler (performance advertising network) were at the time of investment similar to EasyPark in terms of focus and stage of development. Both companies were taken public on the Stockholm Stock Exchange and have been considerable success stories.