Intercept, a leading managed cloud service provider, receives a substantial capital injection from Holland Capital to accelerate further growth. Intercept helps software suppliers and companies with the migration of applications and software to the cloud. With this capital injection, Intercept wants to scale up its product development and grow internationally. Hogenhouck m&a advised Intercept in this transaction.
Focus on Microsoft Azure
Job Verhagen (CEO) and Rinie Huijgen (CTO) founded Intercept in 2013. The company is a specialist in Microsoft Azure solutions. CTO Rinie Huijgen explains: “We saw a strong need in the market for a specialist with focus on Microsoft technology. The public cloud was still quite new at the time. About a year later, the public cloud was seen as revolutionary. We were able to adapt rapidly and put our full focus on Azure. That allowed us to quickly execute migrations to Azure, putting us in the spotlight of Microsoft in the Netherlands and several corporates”. As a managed partner of Microsoft, Intercept obtained the most important Microsoft gold competencies. In 2017, Intercept was one of the first partners in the Netherlands to achieve the status of Microsoft Azure Expert Management Service Provider, a status that only a limited number of companies worldwide have.
Intercept is committed to international growth
Intercept has a strong reputation with independent software vendors (ISVs) for the transformation of software and applications to the Azure cloud. In this field, the company is one of the most prominent players in Europe. Intercept also helps companies automate, develop, and protect software in the Microsoft Azure cloud. Intercept was recently named Microsoft Country Partner of the Year 2020.
Job Verhagen, CEO, about Intercept’s growth ambition: “Our ambitions stretch out beyond the Netherlands. We are now working on expansion plans for the Nordics and the UK. With Holland Capital, we can scale up our product development and realize our international growth ambitions. Holland Capital has expertise in positioning fast-growing companies. They are therefore valuable in this new growth phase of Intercept.”
The public cloud market is growing rapidly
The global public cloud market has grown rapidly in recent years, with Amazon and Microsoft as major providers. In the Netherlands, Microsoft is the most dominant player (56% market share) with cloud applications, infrastructure, and services such as Microsoft 365, Microsoft Azure, PowerApps & Dynamics365. New technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and 5G will further increase the use of cloud infrastructure.
Holland Capital is active in the attractive growth markets within technology and healthcare. Niels van Aalten, partner Holland Capital: “Intercept’s unique position as the Microsoft partner for ISVs makes it a very interesting company with a lot of growth potential. We are proud that we can support Intercept in its growth.”
Hein Stoops, partner Hogenhouck m&a, about this transaction: “This financing structure aligns with Intercept’s ambition to invest in product development and expansion. Holland Capital’s market position and knowledge will certainly contribute to further growth.”
