The Riverside Company Expands HR-Tech Portfolio with GFOS Partnership

An affiliated European fund (REF) of The Riverside Company, a global investment firm focused on providing private capital solutions for the smaller end of the middle market (Riverside), has signed a definitive agreement to invest in GFOS, a provider of leading software solutions in workforce management, access control and manufacturing execution systems (MES) for various industries in the upper mid-market to enterprise segment.

In a rapidly digitalizing work environment with a pronounced shortage of skilled workers, GFOS’ solutions make a critical contribution to competitiveness, planning efficiency, smooth workflows and employee satisfaction. Through industry-specific customization, a modular structure and extensive integration capabilities, GFOS is enhancing organizational efficiency, employee engagement and productivity of currently more than 3,000 customers in over 30 countries. GFOS Group was founded by Burkhard Röhrig in 1988 and subsequently built up and led together with Gunda Cassens-Röhrig. The family business was handed over to the second generation and current management team led by Katharina Van Meenen-Röhrig and Dr. Ignace Van Meenen two years ago. Now in this new partnership with REF and Riverside Europe, GFOS retains the character of a second-generation family business with family-led management and great ambitions.

“The partnership with REF and Riverside Europe confirms our shared belief in GFOS’ products and company. Together we will leverage the growth potential of our market both nationally and internationally even better and enter a new era, characterized by growth and partnership,” said GFOS Co-CEO Katharina Van Meenen-Röhrig.

“The world of work has changed massively in recent years. We turn this into a virtue by making better use of the market opportunities that arise from it and delivering measurable and success-critical added value for our customers with our solutions,” said GFOS Co-CEO Dr. Ignace Van Meenen.

During REF’s investment, GFOS will continue to invest into its innovative software products to further drive digitalization, organizational efficiency and employee satisfaction for its customers; expand its geographical footprint; and, drive the ongoing migration to the cloud to further strengthen the strong relationships with customers in Germany as well as internationally.

“We look forward to collaborating with GFOS, one of the market leaders in the field of workforce management software with its impressive suite of products, and to working with the management and the entire GFOS Group. We are convinced that ‘Aiming higher together’ is not only a slogan but reflects the spirit of our partnership and can already be felt in our collaboration with GFOS,” said Riverside Principal Florian Halama.

GFOS is exemplary for Riverside’s labor productivity investment super thesis and another example of the commitment to HR-Tech. To date, funds advised by and members of Riverside have completed more than 270 investments in the Software and IT sector. Riverside has a team of global experts dedicated to advising on profitable growth of SaaS-software companies with a specialization on Human Capital Management.

On this investment, REF was assisted and advised by the Riverside Europe team consisting of Principal Florian Halama, Vice President Nicola Tomaschko, Associate Philipp Schenk and Associate Sophia Sigalov. For REF, Peter Parmentier, board member and senior legal counsel, was involved.