Trifork Group

Trifork is a provider of next-generation IT services. We help corporates and the public sector understand how new technologies can improve their processes. We build, maintain, operate, and protect customized software solutions so that our customers can focus on their core competencies.

The software industry is characterized by rapid change. Hence, Trifork always needs to be at the forefront of innovation to stay relevant for our customers. Our culture is deeply rooted in curiosity about new technologies. It means that we can attract highly skilled people, which in turn ensures competitive strength.

Trifork Group is organized into two segments: Trifork Segment and Trifork Labs. In Trifork Segment, we deploy customized software solutions within our customers’ existing IT architecture. In most cases, the intellectual property is transferred to the customer after implementation.

Go-to-market model in Trifork

Trifork’s go-to-market model and financial reporting is based on the three sub-segments, Inspire, Build, and Run, which we consider to be the three phases of our relationship with each customer. The go-to-market model ensures that our customers are at the center of all activities carried out by Trifork, and that Trifork maintains a strong customer relationship throughout the software development journey. This go-to-market model is vital to Trifork’s success, enabling us to be close to and drive innovation.

Inspire: We discover technology, new ideas, and trends and share knowledge about them and inspire customers through Design Thinking workshops. We have more than 63 million views of our software development videos filmed at our own developer conferences.

Build: We create prototypes of customer products and develop the software.

Run: We sell our own products, mostly on recurring licenses, and provide cloud operations, cyber protection and other managed services. We also continuously support the customer products we develop.

Brief history

Trifork was founded in Denmark in 1996. Between 2007 and 2014, Trifork shares were listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen. At the beginning of 2014, the headquarters were moved to Schindellegi, Switzerland, and Trifork Holding AG was established as the holding company of the Trifork Group. As part of this reorganization, Trifork was delisted from Nasdaq Copenhagen. The company increased its international focus in these years and partnered up with the software-focused private equity fund GRO Capital in 2015. GRO Capital exited its investment through an IPO on Nasdaq Copenhagen in May 2021. Today, the founder and CEO, Jørn Larsen, remains the largest shareholder with almost 20% of the shares.

Acquisitions

Trifork has made many acquisitions over the years and acquisitions form an integral part of our growth strategy. We prefer to keep founders leading the company following the acquisition. We buy a majority stake initially, but founders retain significant ownership, and then acquire non-controlling interests (NCIs) over time to ensure that the founders are incentivized to perform well both operationally and financially. Hence, the acquisition of NCIs are also an integral part of our M&A strategy. Acquiring NCIs increases EPS of the Group.

In 2011, Trifork acquired a controlling stake in Erlang Solutions Ltd., headquartered in London, to expand Trifork’s presence to Stockholm, London, and Krakow and offer its customers end-to-end solutions in telecommunications, messaging, payment systems, and process control. Additional non-controlling interests have been acquired since.
In 2012, Trifork acquired Orange11 B.V., headquartered in Amsterdam. Orange11 was renamed Trifork after the acquisition. The product offering complemented Trifork’s product offering and enabled Trifork to expand in the Dutch market.
In 2013, Trifork invested in a minority in Open Credo Ltd., headquartered in London, expanding Trifork’s footprint in the United Kingdom. Trifork acquired full control in 2015 and all remaining shares in 2016.
In 2014, Trifork acquired 51% of the Design agency Duckwise ApS to strengthen the group’s abilities in UX design. In 2021, all remaining shares were acquired by Trifork.
In 2016, Trifork acquired an 88% stake in Netic A/S, headquartered in Denmark. The acquisition enhanced Trifork’s capacity to deliver ongoing operational support to its customers.
In 2018, Trifork acquired 51% of Invokers A/S, headquartered in Copenhagen, to kickstart the Trifork Smart Enterprise business area and give Trifork the ability to deliver solutions integrating SAP-backend with mobile front-end and to increase focus on design thinking. In 2019, all remaining shares were acquired and the company was renamed to Trifork Smart Enterprise. Trifork also acquired 70% of Testhuset A/S. Testhuset focus on software quality and testing and was to support in increasing software quality.
In 2020, Trifork acquired a 70% stake in Nine A/S, a Danish next-generation IT company, strengthening and anchoring Trifork’s role as a provider of software development services to the Danish public sector, thereby increasing the diversity of the customer and revenue mix. Trifork also acquired 51% of SAPBASIS ApS which focuses on SAP solutions and operations. This acquisition strengthened the Smart Enterprise business area.
In 2021, Trifork acquired Vilea GmbH, a Swiss-based IT firm specializing in designing and delivering tailor-made mobile enterprise applications, which expanded Trifork’s position in Switzerland. Trifork also acquired the company StrongMinds ApS, which has specialist knowledge within cloud technologies and also brought in relationships with new public and private customers.

In December 2022, 60% of the Swiss company Institut für Bildungsevaluation AG (IBE) was acquired. IBE focuses on digital learning and exams and was consolidated in the Trifork Group financials from January 2023.

In 2023, Trifork acquired an additional 20% of NCIs in Nine A/S, taking ownership to 90% with the remaining 10% owned by the original founders still active in the company. NCIs were also acquired in Erlang Solutions taking ownership to 87%. Trifork also acquired 100% of Chapter 5 A/S to strengthen its position towards financial services customers in Denmark.

In June 2024, Trifork acquired 70% of Spantree Technology Group in Chicago to expand the offering in the US market. The activities in Marstrand Innovation A/S were also acquired, providing Trifork with an enhanced offering in process optimization within the Smart Enterprise business area. In July, Trifork acquired 78% of Sapere Group ApS to grow expertise in SAP BTP. NCIs in Erlang Solutions were acquired, taking ownership to 95%.

Trifork Labs

Trifork Labs leads Trifork Group’s venture-financed R&D activities. We have been active in founding, co-founding, and investing in innovative software companies for more than 20 years, and currently hold stakes in 24 active companies.

These companies gain access to our network, management sparring, technology sparring, and the possibility to collaborate commercially with the business units in the Trifork segment.

Trifork Labs has participated in founding or making early investments in several successful companies including Humio, TradeShift, and Chainalysis.

Our strength lies in our experience, partnership with growth investors, and business network. Our model of co-founding with entrepreneurs and partners is unique and a solid test of idea quality and commitment.

Trifork Labs’ financial impact

The graph shows the overall financial development and results from the Trifork Labs investments in the period from 2020 to 2024. Accumulated unrealized and realized gains are measured from 2016 when we started reporting in the Trifork Labs segment.

At the end of 2024, the total accumulated cashed-in profit from exits amounted to EURm 75.1. This includes the deduction of the initial cash invested in all of the disposed investments.

In Q4 2024, Trifork completed the partial exit of XCI to a large institutional investment fund, reducing ownership from 20% to 14.3% alongside founders. In total, 30% of the company was sold. The sale was done at a higher valuation than the previous book value and has since Trifork’s investment in 2018 yielded a very significant return, thus contribution to an extension of Trifork Labs’ strong historical track record.

At the end of 2024, the total booked value of investments in the current active Labs companies amounted to EURm 83.2. Of this, EURm 19.1 was registered as invested cash in the current portfolio, EURm 24.1 as unrealized gains from deconsolidation relating to the current portfolio, and EURm 34.5 as accumulated unrealized gains in the current portfolio.

The investments in Trifork Labs are not included in the revenue of Trifork Group. The costs of running Trifork Labs are included in the Group adjusted EBITDA (2024: EURm -2.3). The financial impact from value adjustments and exits in Trifork Labs is accounted for in Trifork Group’s pre-tax profit (EBT). In 2024, EBT from Trifork Labs amounted to EURm 13.3. EBT from Labs has averaged EURm 10.3 since 2016, and thus contributed significantly to the bottom line of the Group.

Given the nature of venture investments in general, the value creation in Trifork Labs, as measured by its impact on Trifork Group’s earnings per share (EPS), is likely to be more volatile from year to year than earnings from the Trifork Segment.

Book value of Trifork Labs

At the end of 2024, the five most valuable investments account for 72.0% of the book value of Trifork Labs, and the top 10 accounts for 92.7% of the book value.

Operational performance in Trifork Labs

From 2022 to 2024, the companies in Trifork Labs top 10 grew their revenue by 100% and significantly improved their EBITDA. Employee growth was 50% in the period.

Although not consolidated revenue, it highlights the strong underlying momentum we have built in these investments.