Lectra Acquires Majority Stake in Launchmetrics
● The deal is valued around $85 million and the technology solutions company is set to acquire the rest by 2030.
PARIS — Fashion and apparel-focused technology company Lectra announced Tuesday it has acquired a majority stake in Launchmetrics, and is slated to buy the remainder by 2030.
The deal for the initial 50.3 percent is estimated at $85 million, with the final amount depending on recurring revenue and EBITDA for 2023.
Lectra chairman and chief executive officer Daniel Harari said the acquisition fits with the company's intention of expanding its footprint in fashion, including in the marketing function.
“Combining our existing solutions with those of Launchmetrics establishes the group as the only technological actor to support its customers from product development to production, then from collection management to marketing, e-commerce and traceability,” he asserted.
“Launchmetrics wanted to join forces with the Lectra Group in order to accelerate the development of its offering on a global scale, alongside a fashion technology leader,” said Michael Jaïs, founder and CEO of Launchmetrics.
“The alliance of Launchmetrics and Lectra will enable us to enrich our respective offers with even more artificial intelligence and complementary data — both product and marketing — to provide our customers with a unique value proposition,” he added.
In an interview with WWD, he called Launchmetrics the “missing link” in Lectra's current offering, which spans the concept, design, production, supply chain and e-commerce phases. “In the future, our customers will really go for a one-stop solution because they want consolidated data, get more intelligence, AI,” Jaïs said.
After a five-year ramp-up and consolidation phase kicked off by a
$50 million funding round in 2018 and culminating in the acquisition of media planning firm DMR Group in 2022, Jaïs said it was a choice between pushing into other industries or doubling down on its core business in fashion and beauty, which he ultimately decided was the direction to take with the linkup with Lectra.
Although Launchmetrics had been gearing up for an initial public offering, the executive felt that the landscape had changed with the increasing importance of AI. “We think that we are in the beginning of the AI phase and that the ability to connect the dots with all the data on the fashion process is critical,” he continued.
The data research and insights company for fashion, luxury and beauty said its 2023 revenue was expected to be around $45 million, including more than $40 million in recurring revenues. Its adjusted EBITDA is expected to be $5 million, generated from around 1,700 customers in 20 countries, including major fashion labels.
Under the terms of the deal, Lectra will acquire the remaining capital and voting rights in five stages between 2025 and 2030, with the total acquisition price slated to fall between $200 million and $240 million euros, based on an expected double-digit growth in the next five years.
It will also see Launchmetrics shareholder Bpifrance, which led the 2018 funding round, sell part of its shares. The French public sector investment bank will stay in Launchmetrics' capital until 2027.
The Launchmetrics deal marks the seventh acquisition for Lectra in the past six years, which saw it add textile design software company Gemini CAD Systems, software and manufacturing systems firm Gerber Technology and Italy-based start-up Kubix Lab. The Euronext-listed company reported revenues of 522 million euros in 2022.