The roll-up of Dutch payroll software company Employes marks Danish-founded Ageras’ second acquisition this year and its most significant since its 2024 takeover of French business banking platform Shine from Société Générale, says Ageras’ CEO, signalling that change is coming for the way small businesses across Europe pay their wages.
Ageras, a leading software platform for accounting, admin and banking for small businesses in Europe, has acquired Dutch payroll software company Employes, marking its second acquisition in 2025 and its eighth to date. Ageras has already enhanced its local presence across other large European markets, for instance with the acquisition of Shine from Société Générale in 2024, and with the rollup of Employes, Ageras strengthens its position in the Netherlands by adding payroll software to its growing offering for Dutch small businesses:
“Employes is a perfect match for Ageras as they too believe in putting business owners first, and building a product that radically simplifies their administration. The acquisition doesn’t just make our Dutch offering much stronger but also gives us a proven, scalable platform to do even more with payroll – ultimately changing the way small businesses pay their wages and take the pain out of payroll. No doubt, this is our most significant acquisition since Shine joined us last year,” says Rico Andersen, CEO and co-founder of Ageras, who earlier in 2025 completed the acquisition of Danish payment reconciliation software Storebuddy.
Challenger built for small businesses
Founded in 2018 by Rob Kroezen and Marius van den Oever, Employes has reinvented payroll for modern businesses in the Netherlands. With intuitive software designed for entrepreneurs, the platform enables do-it-yourself payroll in the complex Dutch regulatory environment. Employes has in the last years experienced rapid, profitable growth. Currently, Employes serves over 6,000 companies and is recommended or used by more than 300 bookkeeping firms who run payroll for small businesses. As per Employes’ Dutch founders, the move by Ageras is welcomed as the Amsterdam– and Zwolle-based team is looking forward to join forces with the Danish-founded software company’s appx. 450 employees, a figure that doubled through 2024:
“We started Employes because we were frustrated with how difficult payroll management was for small business owners. Joining Ageras gives us the scale, reach, and resources to bring our product to even more entrepreneurs and we’re therefore very excited for what’s ahead,” says Rob Kroezen, co-founder of Employes, who will stay on the combined journey with Ageras.
Aiming for more acquisitions
Ageras has since its inception in 2012 grown into a pan-European software platform offering invoicing, accounting, banking and payroll features to more than +400,000 small businesses across Europe. Backed by strong investors like Investcorp, Coller Capital and Lazard, Ageras recently posted its 2024 annual results revealing an EBITDA of EUR 8.7 million, fueled by a 114% surge in revenue reaching EUR 55.5m – and according to its CEO, the journey has just begun as Ageras aims for more strategic acquisitions to fulfill its vision of owning the European market:
“Small businesses across Europe are increasingly looking for all-in-one platforms to run their businesses. Payroll is a crucial piece of that puzzle, however, it does not conclude our vision to empower businesses everywhere to spend less time on admin and more time on what matters. Therefore, we will still be scouting the market for the right opportunities to arise in Europe,” ends Rico Andersen.
Timeline • How Ageras has evolved over the past 13 years:
2012: Ageras is founded by Rico Andersen and Martin Hegelund.
2016: Ageras named Børsen Gazelle as one of Denmark’s fastest growing companies and wins the EY award for Entrepreneur of the Year.
2017: Investcorp acquires majority of Ageras which also wins the Danish e-commerce award for Best B2B Company.
2019: Ageras acquires accounting software company Billy.
2020: Rabobank makes strategic investment in Ageras, achieving EUR 10m ARR in the same year.
2021: Lugard Road Capital injects DKK 450m into Ageras which later acquires the invoicing system Zervant and the payroll system Salary.
2022: Ageras receives EUR 35m investment from Canadian CIBC and later in the year acquires German banking app Kontist.
2023: Ageras becomes profitable for the first time in July 2023.
2024: Ageras receives EUR 82m in investment from its founders, Investcorp, Folketrygdfondet, Lazard, Roosgruppen, Back in Black, Alcur, CNI Nordic and Investering & Tryghed and completes acquisition of French banking app Shine.
2025: Ageras completes acquisition of Danish reconciliation software Storebuddy and now, Dutch payroll software company Employes.
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