With a market-leading position in France, and the tailwind of the French government’s Industrial Strategy, Kickmaker has enjoyed rapid organic growth. Employing almost 250 engineers from top French universities, the business has a unique end-to-end skillset differentiated through the quality of its engineers, the breadth of their experience, and their passion and enthusiasm. The business has been pulled into the US by its customers and intends to expand its US activities to capitalise on the level of demand it has seen, as well as strengthening its focus on ecodesign and decarbonisation of industry, WEB3 and industrial design.

The deal sees MML partnering with co-investor Bpifrance alongside material reinvestment from existing investor Generis Capital Partners.

Luke Jones, Managing Partner (Enterprise) at MML, explains:

“We are very excited to be joining Nathalie, Eric, Vincent and their team at such an exciting stage in Kickmaker’s journey with the business already enjoying rapid organic growth and having built a market-leading reputation in France. We see significant potential to support further acquisitive growth, consolidating businesses with deep expertise in areas such as web & apps and industrial design, as well supporting the company to expand internationally, especially into the US where we are already seeing particular pull coming from Kickmaker’s existing client base.”

Vincent Despatin, Co-Founder at Kickmaker, comments:

“We chose MML for their on-the-ground presence in the US, our major international market, their understanding of people-based businesses and their references in robotics. With Nathalie and Eric, we have built a unique, passionate culture at Kickmaker and we needed to find an investor who would listen and understand the need to respect that. We are excited about the opportunity to work closely in partnership with Luke, Henry, Charles and Yasmin to realise Kickmaker’s full potential and immediately accelerate to retain and reinforce our leadership position.”

The MML deal team comprised Luke Jones (Managing Partner – Enterprise), Henry Alty (Investment Director), Charles Le Texier (Investment Manager) and Yasmin Giovedi (Investment Associate).

MML was advised by Equiteq (Corporate Finance), McDermott Will & Emery (Legals), d’Ornano + Co (Legal and Financial DD), Indefi x Singulier (CDD), Equator (Tech DD), Marsh (Insurance DD), Confidas People (Organisational DD) and Sustainable Advantage (ESG Review and Planning).

Kickmaker was advised by Edmond De Rothschild Corporate Finance, Oderis and Parker Avocats.