We are honored that Gain.pro has been named a Challenger50 company by MT/Sprout for 2023. This list recognizes the 50 most innovative and challenging businesses that have entrepreneurs who are breaking the status quo.
Every year, MT/Sprout selects fast-growing companies that have been operating for at least 3 years and have been pushing the boundaries within their industries. They also display diversity, not only in their business activities, but in their technology and founding teams.
Since founding in 2018, Gain.pro has displayed explosive growth, with a steady 100% growth rate year-over-year. We’ve completely disrupted the game of private market intelligence by combining the best of both AI technology with expert human curation to deliver the highest quality information and insights on the private market. Our platform redefines the way investors, advisors and consultants undergo research and analysis as well as source potential investment opportunities.
Learn more about how Gain.pro has been revolutionizing private market intelligence for private equity investors, M&A advisors and consultants in our feature in MT/Sprout. Or, read the English translation below.
Gain.pro’s feature in MT/Sprout’s Challenger50 2023
“Both Frister Haveman and Nicola Ebmeyer had successful careers at Bridgepoint and McKinsey when they decided to venture out on their own in 2018. With Gain.pro, they now have, in part, their former colleagues as clients: Gain.pro assists professionals such as investors, consultants and analysts from various sectors in discovering, understanding and tracking non-listed companies relevant to them.
(Financial) data and other market information about publicly traded companies are abundant, provided by the Bloombergs and S&P's of the world. However, 98 percent of the most significant companies are privately held. Gain.pro gathers, organizes, and analyzes information about these companies, partly thanks to generative AI and other state-of-the-art analysis tools. Ebmeyer explains, “We combine such technology to collect business data from around the world, including from local Chambers of Commerce in European countries. We also present this data through a clean and simple interface.”
This market intelligence on private companies has gained significant traction among investors and in the M&A world. The fintech company has experienced annual growth of 100% so far and, within a year of its founding, expanded to London and Frankfurt, in addition to Amsterdam. The remotely set up company now also has hubs in Warsaw and Bangalore, with a total of 225 employees. Both founders strongly believe in the power of diversity, with employees coming from more than 30 different nationalities.
Customer-centricity is crucial, and because Ebmeyer and Haveman have been on the other side and come from the financial sector, no one knows their customers better than they do. Major clients are now happy to promote Gain.pro and contribute to the further development of the platform. It saves them a lot of time, if only because they no longer have to get their information from all kinds of different sources.
However, the first year and a half were challenging as the founders built and sold their product to their first clients. Many considered Ebmeyer crazy for leaving McKinsey, where her career was flourishing. But she chose her own path. “Look, my career at McKinsey was going great. Within five years, I was an engagement manager, and the path to partnership was open. But I saw an opportunity to start a business and thought, ‘I'm going for it,’” she says in an interview with MT/Sprout.
Gain.pro now serves all major investors: CVC, KKR, and Blackstone, as well as international M&A advisors such as Goldman Sachs, UBS, and Jefferies. Dutch banks, large consultancies, and the 'big four' accounting firms also use Gain.pro. When asked, Ebmeyer mentions Pitchbook, SourceScrub and Grata as challenging competitors. According to her, Gain.pro has already received three acquisition offers from other players. “But, of course, we are ambitious enough to pursue independent scaling!” says co-founder Nicola Ebmeyer.
In 2022, Gain.pro announced raising €10 million in investment funds. The amount has since been increased to €20 million through a fundraising round that Gain.pro did not publicly disclose. The investment will primarily be used for expansion, first in the U.S. and then globally. In 2024, the company plans to open an office in New York.
Ebmeyer states, 'Even now, with Gain.pro, I want to go further and further. I like milestones such as a new funding round or a certain turnover, but do I enjoy them? My brain is already working on the next step. What's next, where can I improve?' she said earlier to MT/Sprout. The biggest challenge will be to continue to grow but avoid bureaucracy and people who do not fit in with that fast pace.”
