The Secret Behind The Phenomenal Growth Of Miss Group

Translink’s long-standing relationship with Miss Group started with its founder Mattias Kaneteg at his previous hosting company. It then continued when Kaneteg founded the goliath that is now Miss Group back in 2014. The group began its acquisitions in 2017. In total, Translink has assisted Miss Group with a staggering 19 acquisitions since 2017, one of the most interesting of which was the acquisition of UAB Interneto vizija and subsidiary, RackRay in Lithuania – a leading organisation with over 66% market share.

Ullberg says that this perfectly encapsulates Miss Group’s acquisition strategy to identify and buy local champions in their home countries – it purchases one of the top three players as a platform, after which it adds smaller targets to the portfolio. “This enables Miss Group to be locally strong by working with a global advisor like Translink that has local expertise in each country.”

“Miss Group has a very clear plan on how to develop the companies even before they acquire them. Miss Group also has considerably more products and services per customer than is the industry norm”, adds Sebastian Süllmann, M&A Analyst at Anecta AB who together with Ullberg comprise the deal team working with Miss Group.

It’s this kind of innovative thinking which has meant Miss Group has seen double digit organic growth over the years, complemented, of course, by its acquisitions. Much of the strategy comes from the top. Süllmann attributes Miss Group’s success to the meticulous mindset at leadership level, “When Translink approaches a company, we know we want to buy it as together with Miss Group, extensive homework has been done.”

Acquisitions are tightly managed, with a new manager per brand who is responsible for reporting on the business’s profit and loss to Miss Group on a weekly basis. Ullberg adds, “Miss Group let’s its acquisitions focus on what they’re good at, while taking care of the sales and marketing side. That has proven extremely successful.”

Miss Group and Translink have now been working together for 5 years. Ullberg says that trust and respect lie at the core of this long-standing ‘marriage’. “There is a great deal of mutual trust. This enables the acquisition process to move more swiftly than is perhaps industry standard.

Translink’s experience with Miss Group spans the business as we have worked together on numerous acquisitions. Miss Group knows what they want to build and buy. That makes all the difference.”

To build a relationship like this takes time. “We have long-standing relationships with our clients that are established through close working together through various milestones in their professional journeys. We actively identify and predict new market opportunities and we have a deep understanding of their business. This helps you become very precise in suggesting the right targets.”

What’s next for Translink and Miss Group? Ullberg and Süllmann says Miss Group’s growth shows no sign of abating – it’s planning a pipeline of upcoming acquisitions, with a particular focus on VPN companies. In fact, it just acquired PrivateVPN, a VPN company in Sweden, servicing over 75,000 customers globally. “We’re focused on some big acquisitions right now. PrivateVPN is the first security company Miss Group has bought, and it’s the start of a series of similar acquisitions in the months to come.”