Lectra acquires majority stake in Launchmetrics

Lectra, which offers industrial intelligence solutions in the fashion, automotive, and furniture sectors, has acquired a majority stake in American company Launchmetrics, an innovative cloud-based SaaS marketing solutions platform.

In a statement, Lectra said the acquisition would expand its activities into marketing for fashion, which would strengthen its position as an essential industry 4.0 player, as Launchmetrics, founded in 2015, specialises in brand performance analytics for the fashion, lifestyle, and beauty sectors, leveraging industry 4.0 technologies such as artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

In 2023, Launchmetrics’ revenues are expected to be around 45 million US dollars, including more than 40 million US dollars in recurring revenues, and an adjusted EBITDA of around 5 million US dollars generated from close to 1,700 customers in around 20 countries, including prestigious fashion brands.

Michael Jaïs, founder and chief executive officer of Launchmetrics, said: “Launchmetrics wanted to join forces with the Lectra Group in order to accelerate the development of its offering on a global scale, alongside a fashion technology leader.

“The alliance of Launchmetrics and Lectra will enable us to enrich our respective offers with even more artificial intelligence and complementary data – both product and marketing – to provide our customers with a unique value proposition.”

Lectra expands fashion activities with Launchmetrics acquisition

Lectra has acquired around 50.3 percent of Launchmetrics shares for approximately 85 million US dollars, dependent on the company's 2023 recurring revenues and EBITDA. Acquisition of the remaining capital and voting rights is planned in five stages: in 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2030. The total acquisition price should be between 200 and 240 million US dollars, based on expected double-digit growth in both recurring revenues and EBITDA over the 2024-2029 period.

Daniel Harari, chairman and chief executive officer of Lectra, added: “This acquisition naturally fits with Lectra’s approach to expanding its presence in the Fashion market, by covering additional strategic links of its customers’ value chain. Combining our existing solutions with those of Launchmetrics establishes the Group as the only technological actor to support its customers from product development to production, then from collection management to marketing, e-commerce, and traceability.

“After seven acquisitions over the past six years, this new strategic step enables Lectra to continue to push the boundaries by defining a new framework for Industry 4.0 in Fashion and is fully aligned with the 2023-2025 strategic roadmap, presented in February 2023.”

Bpifrance, a reference shareholder in Launchmetrics, will sell part of its shares during this transaction and will remain in the company’s capital until 2027.