German Equity Partners V (“GEP V” or “the Fund”), a fund managed by independent German investment company ECM Equity Capital Management GmbH (“ECM”), today announced the sale of its majority stake in the software company YellowFox GmbH (“YellowFox”) to Peter Möhrle Holding GmbH & Co. KG (“Peter Möhrle Holding”). YellowFox offers a modular SaaS solution for digital fleet management supporting clients to increase efficiency, reduce costs and ensure regulatory compliance, serving a wide range of industries, fleet sizes and asset types. The parties have agreed not to disclose transaction details.
Uniquely positioned SaaS provider for fleet management
With more than 100,000 active vehicles, YellowFox is the leading independent provider and quality leader of fleet management software solutions for the digitalization and optimization of logistics processes in German-speaking Europe. The company offers modular, cloud-native standardized software in the fields of fleet, asset and HR management that is deeply integrated into clients’ operational processes and IT landscapes. This results in significant switching barriers and strong customer loyalty further enhanced by rapid return on investment for clients and high client satisfaction levels. YellowFox currently serves more than 5,000 clients, primarily in logistics & transport, construction, and other service verticals. The company operates a unique sales platform with more than 70 strategic sales partners supported by 120 own dedicated employees.
Dynamic growth and expansion of market leadership
Since 2021, and with ECM’s support, YellowFox has made significant strategic investments in its workforce – particularly in software development – to substantially expand its product-development capabilities. These strategic investments enabled the company to broaden its product ecosystem with new solutions and functionalities, inter alia in the fields of asset and HR management as well as video telematics. This allowed YellowFox to address new customer segments and benefit from additional up-selling potential and deeper integration with existing clients.
YellowFox’s unique sales platform was structurally enhanced during this period, inter alia through new sales partner wins and further development of existing sales partners as well as the introduction of a dedicated key account management and enterprise-sales function. In addition, the pricing strategy was optimized through the introduction of effective tariff bundles with optional add-on modules, selective price adjustments and the strategic conversion of one-time hardware sales into recurring SaaS sales.
As a result of these strategic initiatives YellowFox has achieved an impressive growth track record of ~20% p.a. in recurring SaaS sales, thus significantly expanding its market share. The share of recurring SaaS sales increased from ~70% in 2020 to ~85% in 2024.
Hendrik Scherf, founder and CEO of YellowFox, said: “With ECM’s support, we have taken the company to the next level. I am proud of what we have accomplished together over the past years. Today, YellowFox is stronger than ever – both internally as a team and in terms of our position within the market. Our special thanks go to our loyal clients and sales partners with whom we have always maintained a relationship based on mutual trust and respect.”
Alexander Schönborn, Partner at ECM, commented: “Hendrik Scherf and the broader management team have done an outstanding job developing YellowFox into the leading independent provider of telematics and fleet management software in German-speaking Europe. We were delighted to accompany the company’s dynamic development over the past years and to contribute to the further institutionalization of the organization and acceleration of its growth.”
Christoph Demers, Investment Director at ECM, added: “We would like to thank the YellowFox team for the excellent and successful collaboration. The strategic investments in product innovations and the further strengthening of the sales platform have been key drivers of success and will make an important contribution to the company’s future growth. We wish the company and Peter Möhrle Holding every success in their journey ahead.”
GEP V was advised on this transaction by Rothschild & Co (M&A), Milbank (Legal and Structuring), OC&C (Market & Competition), KPMG (Financial & Tax), Code & Co (Tech) and Radial (Data Analytics). Alexander Schönborn, Axel Eichmeyer and Christoph Demers were responsible for the transaction at ECM.
About ECM Equity Capital Management GmbH (“ECM”)
ECM Equity Capital Management GmbH (“ECM“) is a trusted growth partner for mid-sized enterprises and entrepreneurs in German-speaking Europe. Since 1995, ECM has raised the private equity funds GEP I-V with aggregate equity commitments of more than €1 billion and currently invests out of its fifth fund GEP V (€325 million). The funds invest primarily in leading mid-market companies with attractive growth potential in the context of ownership successions, partnership transactions and corporate spin-offs.
Further information at: www.ecm-pe.de
About YellowFox GmbH (“YellowFox”)
Headquartered in Kesselsdorf (near Dresden), YellowFox develops telematics and fleet management software solutions for a wide range of industries, vehicle and asset types, and company sizes. Development, sales and support are provided entirely in-house. The company offers a comprehensive, modular and scalable portfolio of digital fleet and asset management solutions that help customers enhance productivity and cost efficiency, ensure regulatory compliance and drive digital transformation.
Further information at: www.yellowfox.de