Tech entrepreneurs, Belgian investors, politicians: everyone is delighted with the financial operation which allowed Odoo to be valued at five billion euros. But the good that Odoo does for Belgium goes beyond its status as a quintuple unicorn and the 1,200 Belgian employees on board.
The pride of the Belgian business, entrepreneurship and tech ecosystems for quite a few years, Odoo has reached a new level following a major financial operation. Several shareholders, including Noshaq and Wallonie Entreprendre, resold part of their shares to some big names in international business: notably CapitalG – the fund of Alphabet (parent company of Google) – and Sequoia Capital. This operation, valued at 500 million euros, gives Odoo no less than 5 unicorns (a unicorn being an unlisted tech company worth a billion, editor’s note). Nothing totally surprising for a company that has more than 13 million users around the world, and is growing by more than 40% each year. With the objective, according to Fabien Pinckaers, founder and main shareholder (56%), of reaching a turnover of one billion euros in 2027!
If it is not a fundraising but a “simple” share buyback, “it is a recognition of the market and a strong signal of which we are happy and proud”, reacts Fabien Pinckaers. The arrival of these new prestigious shareholders will not fundamentally change Odoo’s business situation. “We remain a new entrant on the market,” admits the boss and founder. By default, large companies go to SAP. This type of operation gives us visibility and credit.”
1 billionThe turnover (in euros) that Odoo hopes to record by 2027.
But it is not only Fabien Pinckaers and his 5,000 employees around the world who are delighted with this new valuation, Belgium is also benefiting, on a host of other levels, from the crazy rise of Odoo.
A purely Belgian anchor
The company claims and cultivates its black-yellow-red roots. Launched when Fabien Pinckaers was a student in Louvain-la-Neuve, Odoo has always maintained a head office in Wallonia despite colossal international developments and 1,200 of its 5,000 employees remain based here. Odoo has again invested in a new building in Louvain-la-Neuve, in addition to the two “historic” farms in Grand-Rosière. For Fabien Pinckaers, it’s only natural: Belgium has many talents for a company constantly looking for leading engineers and developers.
In fact, the product is still mainly developed in our country. “R&D, which represents 20% of our budgets, is carried out almost only in Belgium, for a product that affects the whole world,” insists Fabien Pinckaers. If the company has also set up teams of developers in India, the heart of technological development is indeed located in the flat country. And if he constantly struggles to find enough Belgian developers, Fabien Pinckaers attracts those from abroad. “They represent more than 40% of our developer commitments in Belgium,” the boss told us earlier this year.
An ecosystem around Odoo
The five-fold Belgian unicorn developed thanks to an open source solution, that is to say free and open to the IT community. If Odoo sells licenses for its software suite, SMEs generally need help implementing it. And lots of IT specialists have organized themselves to offer these services. Idealis, Niboo, Nalios, etc., more and more companies have formed around Odoo to manage the implementation of these products within companies. This very large ecosystem includes companies that resell Odoo software, carry out integration and offer different services around the solutions marketed by the scale-upsome entering into contractual relationships with Odoo, and others not.
“There are 330 companies that employ an average of 16 people to work exclusively on Odoo,” calculates Fabien Pinckaers. Small partner companies but also large groups are developing this Odoo skill to add it to their services. So, for example, the NSI group, which employs more than 2,000 people, expressly acquired Nubeo this summer to double its Odoo teams.
According to Fabien Pinckaers’ calculations, in addition to his teams, at least 5,000 people in Belgium work thanks to Odoo or its partners. “At least”, because these figures only concern recognized providers. To this must be added all the IT developers with whom the firm has no direct contact.
In addition to its teams, at least 5,000 people in Belgium would work thanks to Odoo or its partners.
Business in Belgium
Odoo is now a global company since its software is now used in more than 200 countries, from India to the United States including all countries in Europe and South America. Its turnover is expected to reach 650 million euros in the next 12 months, according to estimates from the company itself.
If Belgium is not going to generate this figure alone, Fabien Pinckaers insists on the fact that “38 million euros of sales are made in Belgium, to which we must add around 125 million euros of sales in Belgium. abroad but invoiced here. Mostly license sales.”
If 38 million euros of sales are made in Belgium, the 125 million coming from abroad are invoiced here.
Walloon money… to reinvest!
Odoo is worth five billion euros. Of the 10% of shares that were sold to new entrants, part comes from Walloon investors Noshaq and Wallonie Entreprendre. A great operation for the latter, as Olivier Vanderijst, boss of WE, confirms to us. This is even the greatest added value for the public fund which had paid more than 10 million to hold 8% of the company: “Odoo allowed us to generate no less than 175 million euros of pure plus -value”.
So much money which, in theory, could be reinvested in Walloon companies (technological or not). In the best case scenario because, as a well-informed observer points out, “the Region is always asking for more dividends, which means that a good part of this money could go back up without being reinvested”. Especially since, according to this same source, “unfortunately there are too few tech projects in Wallonia that justify such investments”. Especially since the start of the year, Wallonie Entreprendre’s major investments in tech start-ups are much lower than previously.
Another informed observer of course welcomes the significant added value, while tackling this partial exit of Odoo’s shareholding: “What an idea to sell Odoo shares when the list of investors who want to enter is gigantic. This could well be a lot of bullshit (sic). Selling today also means losing millions of potential euros given that Odoo’s valuation should only increase.” Still, investors also need cash…
“Role model” but no mafia
In the tech ecosystem, entrepreneurs observe Odoo with great admiration. “It’s super positive that an entrepreneur like Fabien Pinckaers succeeds when everything is created in Belgium, in Wallonia, starting from nothing,” rejoices Philippe Van Ophem, serial tech entrepreneur. It must serve as role model“.
Same story with Sébastien Deletaille, serial entrepreneur at the head of the start-up Rosa: “What Fabien is doing is incredible and inspiring. Making money in open source is particularly complicated. So it’s quite a feat. He will go down in the history of the greatest Belgian entrepreneurs. It’s undeniable.”
Some, however, regret the absence of the CEO and his lack of personal involvement in the tech ecosystem, in events and especially the absence of “Odoo mafia”. In this context, the term mafia refers to the creation of a network of entrepreneurs and start-ups born from the business. That is to say, people who set out to develop a start-up thanks to their apprenticeship within the company. This notion is observed quite a bit in Flanders (the mafias born from Netlog or Showpad) and in Brussels (Skynet mafia, Riaktr mafia). This is at this stage less the case around Odoo. “There is no spin-off spirit within Odoo,” an observer tells us. No doubt because Fabien Pinckaers is not looking to hire profiles of young entrepreneur founders, but rather good profiles of employees.”
Put Belgium on the map?
Delighted with the enormous added value already acquired for Walloon investors, Olivier Vanderijst, boss of Wallonie Entreprendre, also underlines the quality of international investors attracted by Odoo. For him, this is not trivial and is extremely positive for the Belgian ecosystem. “The quality of incoming investors can only be beneficial for the influence of the company but also for Belgium and Wallonia.”
These investors may well be interested in putting money into other companies in the south of the country. Olivier Vanderijst points out, in this regard, that another Walloon company, CluePoints, a specialist in the control of clinical trials using digital technology, has also been able to count on Summit Partners, like Odoo. “It’s true, but at the same time very theoretical,” underlines this investment specialist. Funds like AlphaG seek out the best companies, regardless of their location.” Especially since, according to our information, new entrants do not have space at board…
Digitalization of the Belgian economy
That the Belgian economy must digitize has not been in doubt for quite a few years. Wallonia has understood this well and is leading, via Digital Wallonia, campaigns to raise awareness on the issue. It also devotes budgets, in particular via subsidies and checks for businesses, to help SMEs in this direction.
Odoo plays its role by transforming the way SMEs operate. Thanks to its free or accessible solutions, more than 100,000 Belgian companies benefit from its tools. Odoo therefore contributes to a large part of the digitalization of Belgian SMEs. Much more than all the public policies put in place.
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