CARYA's expansion into France comes with the acquisition of the incadea.dms division of French company Solware Auto. Six employees joined CARYA France. With their knowledge and experience, they will ensure that the French branch of the group is immediately operational at a high level.

As was the case with the launch of CARYA Netherlands and CARYA Switzerland, CARYA France is also taking over the existing customer base of the Solware incadea branch, paying attention to service continuity and high-quality service. In total, CARYA is taking over nine contracts in France - a solid foundation for the group's French plans.

“The launch of CARYA France is an important step in our strategy to strengthen and further expand our presence in Europe,” said Patrick Vanbrabandt, CEO of CARYA.

Didier Passchier, CCO of CARYA, adds: “Thanks to the expertise of our team, we are confident that we will be able to best support our customers in France and help them with their digital transformation. Our focus remains on innovation, customer satisfaction and offering advanced technological solutions that seamlessly meet the needs of the market. This is how we want to remain the reference and fulfill our mission as an accelerator for dealerships.”

The six new team members will work from the new CARYA office in Lyon. From there, they will service existing customers as well as expand the French branch with new business. In line with CARYA's existing expansion strategy, this newest member of the group will continue to focus on growth and improvement by investing in both technology and people.




About CARYA
CARYA is a full-service partner for automotive dealerships. The Belgian group is a leading provider of dealer management systems (incadea.dms) and add-on software development. CARYA also provides fully integrated IT solutions (hardware, software and telco infrastructure), professional marketing services and CRM solutions.

With headquarters in Belgium and offices in the Netherlands, Switzerland and now France, CARYA serves customers across Europe with innovative solutions that improve the efficiency and productivity of dealerships.

The Softmotive acquisition will further strengthen CARYA’s position as a full-service IT partner for automotive dealerships on the European market. With its activities currently centered on Benelux, CARYA is ambitious to expand its growth strategy into Europe both via organic and inorganic growth. The acquisition of Softmotive is the first of step in the ambitious hybrid strategy defined in December of 2022, at the conclusion of the financial and strategic partnership with Pride Capital Partners.

Softmotive’s know-how as an incadea partner and the company’s strong relationships with the largest dealership groups in Switzerland makes it the perfect addition to the CARYA portfolio.

By joining CARYA, Softmotive will in turn be able to expand its service offering with in-depth know-how of additional brands such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Peugeot, Opel and Jaguar/Land Rover. Additionally, CARYA delivers integrated IT solutions for hardware, software, and telco infrastructure, professional marketing services and CRM solutions, as well as add-on software development for the incadea Dealer Management System.

CARYA CEO Patrick Vanbrabandt will lead the new group alongside Didier Passchier, Group Director and Chief Strategy Officer.

Speaking of the acquisition, Patrick Vanbrabandt says:

“The acquisition of Softmotive is a key component of CARYA’s strategy to geographically expand our business and to scale our service offering to fit our clients’ needs on a European scale. It allows us to continue our mission of providing the most comprehensive IT offering on the market – from printers to automotive-specific software – all while spanning a geographical area from The Netherlands to Switzerland.”

Juerg Oetzel, CEO of Softmotive comments:

“The future collaboration with CARYA is an ideal fit for Softmotive and will enable us to support our customer base in their digitalization with additional solutions and services. In addition, we are now in a position to assist transnational dealer groups even more effectively with uniform solutions and services.”

Lars van ‘t Hoenderdaal, Managing Partner of Pride Capital Partners adds:

“We are excited about the perfect match between CARYA and Softmotive and look forward to further supporting CARYA’s expansion into the European market as a full-service IT partner for automotive dealerships. Successfully completing this acquisition only a few months after we established our collaboration is a big step both for CARYA and Pride.”


About CARYA

As a full-service IT partner, CARYA aims to be the technological accelerator automotive dealerships need to face the challenges of an ever-changing industry. Headquartered in Puurs-Sint-Amands, Belgium, and with satellite offices in Vianen, The Netherlands, CARYA was founded in 2006 and currently employs over 100 experts, most of which are based in Belgium. The company delivers fully integrated IT solutions for hardware, software, and telco infrastructure, professional marketing services and CRM solutions, as well as add-on software development for the incadea Dealer Management System.

https://www.carya.ch/


About Softmotive

For more than 20 years softmotive is the value-added reseller for incadea Dealer Management Solutions in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein. The company currently employs 10 experts and operates from offices in Baar/ZG and Lyss/BE. The customer base of softmotive consists of national sales companies and dealer groups of premiums brands, the majority being from the BMW Group.

https://www.softmotive.ch/


About Pride Capital Partners

With over 20 years of experience in the software and IT industry, Pride Capital Partners aims to guide software and IT companies in the Benelux, DACH region and Nordics into their next growth phase by providing flexible capital solutions and strategic advice. Typical scenarios include growth, acquisitions, and management buyout (MBO) transactions. Pride Capital Partners' resources have been made available by shareholders, institutional investors, wealthy individuals, family offices and (former) entrepreneurs. The current portfolio includes 21 companies, three of which are based in Belgium.

https://www.pridecapital.nl/