Disclaimer: Unless noted otherwise, views and analysis expressed here are the author's own and based on public sources. The article is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional for investment decisions.

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A lot of what’s going on in lower mid-market looks and feels like hand-me-down trades from the bigger boys. Take the HVAC craze, clearly inspired by the well-publicized exploits of giant rollups like Apex, a portfolio company of Alpine Investors (see our Evergreen profile, Alpine’s IT Services rollup). Graham Weaver, the founder of Alpine, recently disclosed that Apex is doing $3B revenue and $500M EBITDA… <7 years in and with <$60M cumulative equity invested! 

Accounting feels similar. Across Europe, mega-funds like Waterland, Hg and KKR are racing to hoover up small practices. Against this backdrop, the idea of a self-funded searcher duo gunning for a top 10 spot in a $30B accounting market feels… wildly aspirational?  

Or perhaps not. 

Because this was Guillaume Bazan and Vladimir (Vlad) Komnenović’s objective when they founded Numeris in 2024. Eight months ago, Numeris raised €30M ($35M) from Strada, Europe’s premier creator of platforms in fragmented industries. By the time I sat down with Vlad in London a fortnight ago, Numeris had grown to $30M revenue across 4 acquisitions. 

Vlad and I talked about:

If you'd rather listen to this episode on Spotify, here's the link:

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Got an idea? Ping Nicholas De Poorter right away. Iterating on a few ideas? Apply to Strada’s accelerator LV8.  

Alex: How does one wake up and start acquiring French accountancies? Did you and Guillaume have prior experience in the industry, or was this the outcome of a market mapping exercise? The way we've seen with other successful rollups, for example, Simago in France (a $600M exit after 3 years) or Arsipa in Germany (a $150M exit after 4 years). 

Further reading: 

<3 years, a €525M exit, 10x sponsor MOIC. We X-rayed Simago, the radiology rollup that galvanised the French rollup mania

The founders of Arsipa and Simago explain their market research process at a RollUpEurope conference 

Vlad: After stints in Private Equity, we worked as CFOs at fast-growing startups. We had both come into firms that had almost nothing in terms of financial reporting or accounting processes. We had to put in place the processes to get the right data. We started working very closely with accountants. Guillaume even more so, since he was the CFO of Swan, a banking-as-a-service provider. 

At first, we thought we'd build a SaaS. However, after speaking to a lot of people we realized, there are like 200,000 SaaS solutions! Our interactions with accountants revealed that what made transformation difficult wasn't the lack of tools, but having resources to drive that transformation, and the right culture.

Alex: When it comes to accountancy consolidators, we've seen a plethora of business models emerge. There is the traditional PE model. There is the Kelly Partners blueprint, which is more permanent in nature, but they acquire 51% and not 100%. And then the topic du jour, “AI-powered rollups” like zinco.ai in Spain and Taxforce in Germany. Which bucket does Numeris' business belong in? 

Vlad: We're a bit of a hybrid - both operationally and technology focused. Our deep belief is that a successful group starts with the culture, the people that you partner with - rather than with the tech stack you operate on. You may have the best technology in the world, but if the people won't change their habits, no-one will be using your tools. 

Then there’s our unique governance model. The founders retain minority stakes at the regional hub level as well as becoming shareholders within the group. Why this “double-decker” structure? In the long run, once people grasp the upside of becoming shareholders at the TopCo level, some of them might stop working for their own remits. We want to avoid free-riders. 

Alex: Next, I'd like to talk about seller profile and governance. You don't acquire 100%. The acquisitions you've done so far, are these retirement type trades? Do business owners see a partnership with Numeris through the prism of driving consolidation in their respective regions? Secondly, talk me through the types of the companies you've acquired. From what I understand they offer not only accounting and tax advisory, but also wealth management. Is the idea to cross-sell the services?

Vlad: I’ll start with the second question. We’re building a 360° platform for every entrepreneur. Today, most of our clients are on the smaller end of the market, the segment with the largest potential for cross-sell. These entrepreneurs don't have tax lawyers or wealth managers or Fractional CFOs or ESG specialists on tap. Hence our decision to build products like CFO-as-a-service and wealth management. 

As to your first question, the people who join Numeris are not looking to retire. They intend to stay on board for 5-7 years at least. Some are in their 30s. These are the kind of people who see that their craft is changing and they need support. It’s important to understand that traditional accounting practices are set up differently to service business. The former tend to have functional structures. There are salespeople; the people who deliver the service; the aftersales; and the customer relationship team that’s involved throughout. 

In the long run this structure is going to evolve because a) accountancies will need more domain experts b) able to work on multiple clients at the same time.

Alex: This a great segue to my next question, which is about synergies and the value-add of the group. I've read that you're bringing on board a CTO, in addition to Group level recruiter and a Numeris Academy. Can you talk about Group level initiatives vs. which of the functions are going to remain within the member firms? 

Vlad: For every function, we always ask ourselves the question of whether having it at the Group level is going to add friction. Take HR. Recruitment is not something that you need at the practice level. Why? Not every practice has the size that justifies having a dedicated recruiter. Further, recruitment is a function that benefits massively from economies of scale, from having relationships with headhunters - and from being established in the market.

Same goes for harmonizing workflows like validating paid leave. However, building workflows isn't the same as executing them. If a colleague in the east of France is waiting on a Paris-based supervisor to approve their holidays, this creates way more friction than it creates value.

We run this type of analysis for each and every function to determine what stays within the practices and what migrates to the Group level. On the tech side, whenever we integrate a new practice, we connect to all of their systems to get proper data, and to give them visibility on their own business. Most of the time the data is very fragmented. Having a clear picture changes the way you drive performance. 

Alex: For my next question, I want to talk numbers. My preparation for this interview was made easier by the fact that you guys have appeared on a few podcasts (here and here). One statistic that’s really impressed me is that <1 year after closing the investment from Strada Partners, you've already completed 4 acquisitions, with €25M ($30M) in run-rate revenue. You have more deals in the pipeline. 

And that's the single biggest problem of anyone who comes to an industry relatively cold. At the time when you started soliciting investor interest, did you have any deals under LOI? And what percentage of your pipeline is proprietary versus intermediated?