Founded by Nico Huybrechts in 2015, Datashift has become a leading data consultancy company in Belgium in less than a decade. Over the years, Datashift has progressively expanded its range of services. Initially focused on business analytics and data governance, the company has further strengthened its expertise by venturing into data science and data engineering, followed by the addition of artificial intelligence and intelligent automation in 2023. Currently, the company counts a team of 100+ employees, serves over 60 blue-chip corporations and has offices in Mechelen, Leuven and Ghent.
Today, Datashift starts a new chapter in its development aiming to expedite its expansion in Belgium and extend its reach to the Netherlands. To assist the founder and management team’s aspirations for both organic and external growth, Finco has entered into a partnership with Datashift whereby it acquires a stake in the company, alongside Nico Huybrechts and the existing team. Nico and the management will remain in charge of the day-to-day operations of Datashift.
Nico Huybrechts, founder at Datashift explains: “We enthusiastically welcome Finco as a partner that shares our vision and values. Datashift’s identity and corporate culture will remain unchanged. The investment of Finco in Datashift will enable our future growth plans and will enable our entry into foreign markets with a first focus on the Netherlands. I’m personally excited that we were able to cross paths with such a pragmatic, down-to-earth and competent partner.”
“As from the first discussions, we have been impressed by the company’s professionalism and the quality of its management team”, says Martijn Willaert, managing partner at Finco. “Datashift is for Finco the ideal partner to respond to the exponential growth trend of data generation and we are convinced that current and prospective clients will further leverage on Datashift’s extensive knowhow to organize, process, and efficiently use their available data.”
Stibbe acted as legal adviser to Finco. Merodis and Cresco assisted the shareholders of Datashift to execute the transaction.
About Finco Private Equity
Finco is an established, independent private equity player in Belgium. For more than two decades, its experienced and agile investment team has supported profitable small and medium-sized companies to achieve the full potential of their growth ambitions. Finco invests in innovative companies with sustainable business models, inspired by entrepreneurial leadership. The reference shareholder is the Plouvier family.