Clipperton acted as exclusive financial advisor to the shareholders of Napta, the resource management and skills-intelligence platform for professional and business services firms, on its acquisition by Unit4, a leading provider of enterprise cloud applications for service-centric organizations, backed by TA Associates. 

Our Client

  • Founded in 2018 with headquarters in France, Napta has built an AI-powered resource-management and staffing platform for project-based organizations, centralizing staffing requests, matching consultants to projects by skills and availability, and tracking workload and project financial performance.
  • Its differentiation lies in combining skills management, staffing, and financial planning in a single AI-powered platform. The platform also maps employee skills and career aspirations, helping organizations align talent development with business needs.
  • Napta serves more than 100 professional services customers across over 70 countries, including many of the world’s leading consulting, audit, IT, and engineering firms.
  • Kerala Ventures and Kima Ventures have backed Napta since 2019, and Ternel led its Series A in 2022.

Deal Rationale

  • The acquisition is aligned with Unit4’s growth strategy and its continued focus on serving key verticals, including professional and business services, public services, non-profit, and education, while increased investment in the roadmap and Unit4’s global reach will support Napta’s ambition to grow rapidly and become the trusted European leader in the resource management category.
  • For Napta, joining Unit4 provides access to a global platform serving more than 4,700 customers, supporting the company’s international expansion. Backed by TA Associates since 2021, Unit4 continues to pursue a buy-and-build strategy to broaden its enterprise software suite for people-centric organizations.
  • “We built Napta to become the European reference in resource management and skills intelligence, and joining Unit4 is how we get there faster,” said Arnaud Caldichoury, co-founder and CEO of Napta. “We chose Unit4 because they share our conviction that professional services is a people business, and because they are committed to investing in what makes Napta successful.”
  • Following the acquisition, Napta will continue to be led by co-founder and CEO Arnaud Caldichoury, with all three co-founders remaining with the business. The companies plan to connect Napta’s skills and resource capacity data with Unit4’s project, financial, and people data, so that firms can plan projects and staff them with the right skills, while seeing the financial impact in one connected flow. 

Clipperton’s track record in HR Tech and Office of the CFO software 

This transaction strengthens Clipperton’s expertise at the intersection of HR Tech and Office of the CFO software. Recent transactions across both verticals include Skello’s €200m investment from Bridgepoint Development Capital, Hublo’s LBO with Five Arrows, or Klara’s fundraising led by Endeit Capital, as well as Rydoo’s investment from Eurazeo.   

Deal Team

About Clipperton

Clipperton is a leading international investment bank dedicated to technology and growth companies, with offices in Paris, New York, Berlin, and Munich, as well as partnerships in the Netherlands, the UK, Switzerland, China, Italy, and Spain. We provide strategic and financial advisory services to entrepreneurs, corporates, and top-tier investors in Europe who are looking to execute strategic M&A, private equity, private placements, and debt financing transactions. Founded in 2003, we have completed over 500 deals with fast-growing technology businesses, blue-chip corporates, and renowned financial investors.