For founders and owners
A long-term home for what you’ve built.
We become the long-term owner of profitable software businesses, with a flexible approach to each founder’s next chapter.
From the CEO
A letter to founders.
Dear founder,
You have probably spent years building your business without many people outside it seeing what that actually takes. The customer calls, the product decisions, the late nights, and all the less interesting things that still need to get done. At some point, the software you built became something your customers rely on every day.
That is the kind of business we are looking for at Federation.
We started Federation to work with founders who know their customers and their market deeply, and who have built software that is genuinely important to the people who use it. Some founders want to keep running what they have built. Others are ready to step back. Many are somewhere in between. We don’t think there is one right answer.
Federation is a permanent holding company. When we buy a business, we intend to own it for the long term. There is no fund cycle or requirement to sell. We want to preserve what already works – the people, the customers, the product and the reputation you have built – while helping the business become stronger over time.
We can also take some of the things that are difficult for a smaller company to do alone off your plate. That might mean helping with sales and go-to-market, strengthening the finance function, improving the technology stack, or providing the capital and M&A expertise to acquire a competitor or complementary product. The goal is not to build a corporate layer around the business. It is to give you more resources without losing what made the company work in the first place.
We would like to hear about what you have built. You don’t need to be thinking about a transaction today. Some of the best conversations start years before one.
Warmly,
Criteria
Our acquisition criteria.
- 01Profitable€1M+ in annual revenue and profitable on a cash basis.
- 02Recurring revenueRecurring contracts at the core of the business. Services alongside software are fine.
- 03Deeply embeddedSoftware that is critical to an important customer workflow and difficult to replace.
- 04Founder-ledMajority-owned by the people who built the business, with a clear decision-maker.
- 05Regulated or the everyday economySoftware used in regulated processes or supporting physical, everyday work.
- 06Europe or North AmericaPlatform acquisitions in Europe and North America. Add-ons can come from anywhere.
Process
From first conversation to close.
First conversation · 30 minutes
No NDA, no data room, no teaser. Just a conversation about what you have built, how the business works and what you want next. If there is no fit, we will tell you early.
Indicative terms
Once we understand the business and have seen the high-level financials, we put our thinking in writing. You will know where we stand before investing significant time in the process.
Letter of intent
If there is a fit, we agree the key terms and move into exclusivity. This is when we start committing our time and resources to the transaction.
Diligence
We look at the commercial, financial, technical and legal aspects of the business. Our team leads the process, supported by specialist advisers where needed, with one point of contact for you throughout.
Close — and then the part that matters
Once the deal closes, our focus shifts to helping the business move forward. We start with what will make the biggest difference to you and your team, while preserving the product, brand and customer relationships that made the business successful.