EMH Partners’ minority stake in one of the market leaders in retail transformation
Munich, Germany, 09/19/2019. Funds advised by EMH Partners have purchased a significant minority shareholding in Liganova Group, a leading company transforming retail spaces into experience channels, and have provided growth capital to support internationalization, expansion of services for retail transformation and digitalization of physical spaces. Liganova Group’s founder Vincent Bodo Andrin and Dr. Marc Schumacher, Managing Partner of Liganova and responsible for the operational client business, will retain a majority ownership in the business and continue to manage Liganova Group.
Digital expertise for international brands.
Liganova Group supports many of the world’s most renowned brands in innovating and executing their retail marketing activities, thereby creating memorable experiences for their customers. “By intensifying digital interactions between brands and customers, we will witness an increase in the importance of the physical live contact,” says Dr. Marc Schumacher, Managing Partner of LIGANOVA. “The digitalization will force retail spaces to reinvent themselves. We are deeply convinced that brand and product spaces as we know them, will no longer exist. The Point of Sale is about to transform into the Point of Experience.”
Liganova was founded in 1995 in Stuttgart, Germany. The company grew rapidly and became one of the leading service providers in brand retail marketing. In 2019, more than 400 experts located across four offices in Stuttgart, Berlin, Amsterdam and San Francisco develop end-to-end solutions and seamless experiences for leading global brands.
Transformation of commercial spaces.
“The world is radically changing. And so is global consumer behavior. We are entering the perfect storm in retail. This creates a unique opportunity for the business of Liganova as we have always been pioneers in the transformation of commercial spaces,” says Vincent Bodo Andrin, founder and CEO of Liganova Group. “We have found our perfect match in EMH Partners. The team, the company’s entrepreneurial approach and its focus on digitalization will help us boost our international expansion plans and our capability to digitalize physical spaces. Moreover, we share the same mission – to transform commercial spaces into phygital experience channels.”
“The experience economy is driving the rising market for brand experience services. We are highly interested in this segment due to its strong growth and enormous digitalization potential in retail and beyond,” says Dr. Thomas von Werner of EMH Partners. “We are also excited about LIGANOVA GROUP’s proprietary software and data analytics tools in order to drive customer conversion, respectively retention, and the digitalization of physical spaces.”
EMH Partners and LIGANOVA GROUP have agreed to keep the terms of the investment confidential. Closing is foreseen in the next months. Liganova Group is the sixth investment of funds advised by EMH Partners. Previous investments contain among others: Brainlab, a global leader of software-driven medical technology, Occhio, a German manufacturer of high-quality lighting, as well as Design Offices, the German industry leader in the corporate coworking sector.
About Liganova Group
Liganova Liganova offers end-to-end and seamless brand, product and service experiences for global brands. The holding company further owns other highly specialized entities: LIGA2037, a consulting unit focused on urban commercial space transformation, Ligadigital, a developer of software and data analytics tools for brand retail, or Ligaproduction, a full-service production and logistics hub. Liganova was established in 1995 in Stuttgart, Germany, and today employs more than 400 people across four offices worldwide. It is among the leaders in its field, working together with some of world’s most renowned brands.
For more information, please visit: www.liganova.com