M&A operations are in full swing in French Tech. And in all sectors. It is the turn of Hoppen, which specializes in the digitization of health establishments, to complete the acquisition of Exolis, a Marseille start-up which improves the care pathway for patients. The transaction, the amount of which has not been disclosed, was carried out mainly in cash.
Since 2011, Hoppen has been developing solutions to make the patient’s journey more fluid, improve their comfort within the hospital and save time for medical staff, in particular by better tracing acts. This discreet member of the French Tech 120, which raised 32 million euros in 2019, has notably designed a multi-module tactile multimedia terminal (menu management and logistics, distribution of therapeutic content, television, etc.).
More than 630 employees
More than 600 establishments (for approximately 5 million patients) use its solutions and save up to 220,000 euros per year. For its part, Exolis, which has been a partner of Hoppen for several years, specializes in the administrative and medical path of the patient, from making appointments to follow-up after hospitalization, including pre-admission.
“This acquisition is strategic, as it strengthens its value proposition for hospitals by allowing the monitoring of the patient journey not only during their hospital stay, but also before their admission and after their return home”, indicates Arnaud Houette, managing partner at Extens, investment fund specializing in health software, shareholder of Hoppen.
The Exolis brand is not disappearing and its managers are joining the new entity which will include 630 employees (30 from Exolis) and will generate nearly 50 million in consolidated revenue in 2022.
A French advance
This is Hoppen’s fourth acquisition in four years. This M&A strategy began in 2019 with Télécom Services and continued in 2020 with Cinéolia, two players specializing in multimedia services for hospitalized patients. In 2021, it got its hands on Aklia, the second French operator in the reception and support of patients during their hospitalization.
“We have chosen to opt for capacity growth in order to quickly expand our fleet and discuss with larger establishments”, emphasizes Sebastien Dureco-founder and CEO of Hoppen, who does not intend to stop there in terms of acquisitions.
The young company looks closely at its European neighbors. For the moment, it has no office outside France but already works with several foreign players. “We have the ambition to become more international. We have a card to play, because we are two or three years ahead of certain countries, particularly in the use of health data. We were challenged early on by the CNIL [Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés, NDLR]long before the GDPR,” says Sébastien Duré, who is surfing, like other start-ups (Lifen, Doctolib, etc.), on the strong digitization of the health sector.
