Cookie Information has announced its merger with digital analytics platform Piwik PRO. The merger has come about as a result of Cookie Information’s acquisition of all the shares in the international SaaS company. With the acquisition, Cookie Information will now have subscription revenue of more than DKK 150 million, annual revenue growth of 80%, and 225 full-time employees.

Boosts competitiveness by allowing companies to collect and manage their own data

Today, when companies use the major advertising platforms, such as Google, Meta and Amazon, they buy access to the platform’s data and knowledge of their consumers. The business model of these platforms is to make their consumer insights available to everyone. This means that companies have access to the same knowledge as their competitors, which reduces competitiveness.

The merger of Cookie Information and Piwik PRO is set to change all that. With a new digital analytics platform in its product portfolio, Cookie Information will be able to help customers generate their own customer insights and use them to gain a competitive advantage.

“When everyone has access to the same data, you need significant advertising budgets to be able to see off the competition. With this merger, we will make it possible for the 10,000 companies that use our solution to collect customer data through their own websites and apps. Data that they own and can leverage to deliver more effective marketing and more personalised user experiences. This is extremely valuable and will give them a huge advantage,” says Karsten Rendemann, CEO of Cookie Information.

Enhanced privacy protection removes the need for cookie pop-ups

Cookie Information and Piwik PRO share a vision of supporting the confident digitalisation of society, and between them they have more than 20 years of experience in developing solutions that protect the consumer’s right to privacy, such as the cookie banner.

With a new platform, Cookie Information will now make it possible for companies to remove that cookie banner from their websites.

The platform can perform statistical analyses of websites without posing a risk to the privacy of website users. This gives companies a huge advantage on the data front, as well as the ability to remove their cookie banner.

The solution has already been approved by the French data protection authority, CNIL, which has the reputation of being the strictest in Europe.

Strong Danish ownership makes it possible to compete internationally

“Of course, acquiring a company that is bigger than us is a huge milestone. It hasn’t been an easy task, especially because we’ve had to finance the acquisition with our own funds,” says Karsten Rendemann.

Cookie Information has never raised venture capital, and the acquisition is being financed through capital injections from the existing owners and loans from the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO), which provides a single point of access for Danish companies to risk-tolerant government capital.

“We started working with Cookie Information early on and provided them with a small growth loan several years ago. Now we’re providing finance once again, and that’s because it’s also good business for Denmark and Danish taxpayers. Cookie Information has had a great track record so far, and they have a very strong team in place. We’re delighted with our good cooperation and also pleased that we have been able to contribute to maintaining a high-growth SaaS B2B (Software as a Service) company in Denmark in the field of data protection,” says Michael Zöllner, CCO at the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark.

Kim Gulstad, CEO of Kirk Kapital, is also pleased to be supporting the transaction:

“Cookie Information is on an ambitious international growth journey and the acquisition of Piwik PRO is a major milestone. We’ve been proud partners of Cookie Information since 2022, and we’re delighted to continue supporting them in their work to create a leading European software company in data protection and compliance.”

Karsten Rendemann founded Cookie Information in 2011 and today owns the company together with co-founder Jonas Voldbjerg Andersen and Kirk Kapital, which manages the billions in family wealth of the Kirk Johansen family, descendants of Lego founder Ole Kirk Christiansen, which bought into Cookie Information in 2022. In 2021, 2022 and now also in 2023, Cookie Information was named a Gazelle company by Danish financial daily Børsen.

About Cookie Information

Cookie Information develops and sells software-based data protection solutions, ensuring that companies can easily comply with GDPR and other data protection legislation. Cookie Information’s customer base represents over 60% of the largest organisations in Denmark.  See cookieinformation.com

About Piwik PRO

Piwik PRO is a fast-growing company that has developed a platform for collecting, analysing and activating web and app data. Providing complete and accurate data control throughout the customer journey to ensure the highest information security and privacy standards is central to Piwik PRO’s value proposition. Piwik PRO’s annual recurring revenue (ARR) has increased by almost 80% in the last 12 months, while the number of customers has grown by 90%.

About Kirk Kapital

Kirk Kapital is a family-owned investment company owned by the Kirk Johansen family. The Kirk Johansen family are descendants of Ole Kirk Christiansen, who established LEGO. Kirk Kapital manages approx. DKK 14 billion in AUM, invested within strategic investments and financial investments. Within the strategic investments, Kirk Kapital is an active long-term owner with larger minority positions in 16 companies. See www.kirkkapital.dk

About EIFO

The Export and Investment Fund of Denmark is a single point of access for Danish growth and export companies to risk-tolerant government capital. The fund was created through a merger of EKF Denmark’s Export Credit Agency, the Danish Green Investment Fund and the Danish Growth Fund. For more information, visit eifo.dk.