Swyx merges with the Within Reach Group (WRG), parent company of Voiceworks and creates the European market leader for innovative communication services. At the same time, the new Group is acquiring the French software developer Centile, one of Europe’s leading providers of Cloud PBX, unified communications and fixed mobile convergence solutions for service providers and integrators. The combined group will become European market leader in the field of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS).

Three strong solutions for partners under one roof

The group will strive for further growth – both, in the existing countries and via international expansion. Currently the group operates in the core markets Germany, the Netherlands and France with activities in 25 countries and more than 500 employees. Stijn Nijhuis, CEO and co-founder of Voiceworks says: "The strategic decision to continue with Waterland as an investor strengthens the buy & build strategy we rolled out earlier. Together with Swyx, Centile and Waterland as a partner we will accelerate growth opportunities on a European scale by proactively making acquisitions and tapping into more growth markets.”

The combination services through more than 1,450 resellers and service providers approximately two million end users in various European countries. The future head office will be in Almere and Dortmund and the group will be led by Stijn Nijhuis and Dr. Ralf Ebbinghaus as Co-CEOs.

Swyx, the Dortmund-based company, with operations in the UK and France, sells integrated communication solutions through 1,200 resellers in 24 countries. Swyx concentrates on the midmarket and offers the software solution Swyx-Ware as the multi-awarded PBX solution for the German midmarket. Additionally, Swyx is recently offering SwyxON as its own cloud service as a part of its continuing focus on cloud. "Outside Germany, Swyx has significant growth potential," says Dr. Ralf Ebbinghaus, CEO and co-founder of Swyx. "Together with WRG, we will now be able
to exploit this potential."

Voiceworks, headquartered in Almere (the Netherlands) with offices in Spain, Germany, Romania and Serbia, integrates fixed, mobile and web communications in a cloud product for small and medium-sized businesses and sells them to through over 200 wholesale partners. Next to Voiceworks, Within Reach Group also holds the brands of Summa, Summa Networks, Intercity Technology (NL), Xenosite and i4IP and provides innovative communication and collaboration solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. The holding company has already grown strongly on
its own since 2015.

Unlocking all market segments potential

Dr. Ralf Ebbinghaus, Managing Director of Swyx Solutions, emphasizes the market opportunities and significant growth potential of the new group: "With the competences and products of the three champions we will support our existing partners even better and also offer potential partners new growth and sales opportunities.

Centile added to Within Reach Group

In addition to the merger between Swyx and WRG, the French software company Centile was the first acquisition and added directly to the new group. Based in Nice, Centile services over 600.000 users in 20 countries and brings in its multi-tenant Unified Communication platform with some of the largest European Cloud deployments at Mobile Operators and Service Providers. "The planned investments ensure that we will become the market leader in Europe for Unified Communications. This gives us the power to remain innovation leaders in a highly dynamic market of IP-based communications", says Ebbinghaus Bertrand Pourcelot, Directeur Général Centile adds: “With Centile added to the new holding another important step is taken to further expand the UCaaS portfolio towards our partners. The acquisition will position us as a European UCaaS champion. We look forward to working together”.

“The organic growth and drive for innovation of Voiceworks, Centile and Swyx is remarkable and will be further accelerated through the merger”, mentions Dr. Carsten Rahlfs, Managing Partner of Waterland Private Equity who supports the combination as an active investor.

The transaction is pending subject to approval from the antitrust authorities.