Visma acquires clevergig and boosts Beeple's growth ambitions in the Benelux!

On the decision to collaborate with Visma

Over the past few years, clevergig has grown to a team of 20, serving over 150 clients. It has become one of the most well-known software solutions for staffing and recruitment agencies in the Netherlands. With our dedication to providing the most user-friendly software on the market, we've invested all our work and time into developing the product based on customer needs and feedback. We've grown significantly, but our ambitions are greater. To realise these ambitions, we need an extra boost. clevergig is being acquired by Visma and will continue under the flag and management of the Belgian Visma company Beeple, a planning and communication tool for businesses working with flexible shift schedules.

Who are Visma and Beeple?

Visma ranks in the top 5 of Europe's most well-known providers of mission-critical software for a more efficient society. With 15,000 employees and 1,200,000 customers from various sectors in Europe and Latin America, they offer solutions for financial management, HRM, procurement, and e-government in the Dutch and Belgian markets. Dutch companies like Teamleader, Nmbrs, Yuki, Raet, and many others are also part of Visma.

In 2022, Visma also acquired Beeple. Beeple, based in Belgium, is the market-leading provider of personnel planning technology for large staffing agencies, companies working with temporary staff, and organisations with large amounts of staff and rotating schedules. Beeple's focus market is the Benelux, but they already support 1,300 direct and indirect clients in 22 countries in 7 languages.

Why this move?

Michel Pilet, the founder of clevergig, says: "I always wanted to build something that doesn't depend on me personally. That's what I find so enjoyable about entrepreneurship, that you can build something that can ultimately survive without you. I always had in mind that it wouldn't be a family business, not something I would pass on to my son. I'm good at shaping a company in the startup phase. Once it's up and running, someone else is better at continuing the business. When Visma approached us, the timing was perfect. They are a great match."

While Beeple focuses on larger staffing agencies with complex processes, clevergig assists smaller staffing and recruitment agencies in matching temporary staff and freelancers with ad-hoc services. Beeple has already achieved a strong market position in Belgium. The same goes for clevergig, but in the Netherlands. With the acquisition, both parties can reach a new market segment and further growth.

What does it mean for me as a customer?

Michel says: "Together we are stronger. What I appreciate about Visma is that they say 'integration kills innovation'. We won't be fully integrated with their other companies. That takes a lot of time and energy and often distracts. They let their companies continue fairly independently. I think that's also positive for growth. We can just keep going, but now with a strong partner behind us."

clevergig will continue under the same name, with the same logo and branding. The product will continue to develop in the same way, under the leadership of the product team lead.

The former management team (Michel, Arnoud, and Sergii) are staying with clevergig until 2024. Our former owners will focus more on sales, and the management will be fully transferred to Beeple. Our customer success team will remain the contacts for existing customers, and the rest of the team will remain the same.

Visma can help us further professionalise. For example, if we need knowledge about GDPR, we have a strong partner like Visma behind us who can share this knowledge. We can also further optimise our processes with the help and knowledge of Beeple.

clevergig will gain a stronger market position and grow faster with the help of Beeple. We will explore together how to roll out the product in Belgium and later in other countries. The more scale we have as a company, the more we can invest in our product and our services.