Translink Corporate Finance in Italy and Norway acted as the advisor to Visma on its investment in Fiscozen, thereby entering the Italian market. Translink’s cross-border team was led by David Strempel (Partner & Chairman) and Jeh Patel (Associate) from the Translink Italy office, together with Leif Larsen (Managing Partner) and Nora Håberg (Partner) from the Translink Norway office.

The repeat client of Translink, Visma, is a leading provider of mission-critical cloud software, with revenue of €2.06 billion in 2022, 15,000 employees and 1.7 million customers across Europe and Latin America. By simplifying and automating the work of businesses and organisations of all sizes, Visma enables a more efficient and prosperous society.

The investment in Fiscozen marks Visma’s entry into the Italian market, following the expansion into countries like Spain, Germany, Portugal and France in the last three years. The Group now consists of more than 180 software companies, serving over 1.7 million customers across 31 countries in Europe and Latin America, with products spanning both the private and public sectors.

Merete Hverven, CEO of Visma, says, “We are thrilled to announce our arrival in Italy by investing in Fiscozen. With their innovative use of technology to make work more efficient and enjoyable for customers and their tax advisors, they are a perfect match for Visma. We look forward to continuing to grow and develop together. Our growth continues both in existing and new markets, and we plan to expand our presence in Italy further through selective investments that fit Visma’s strategic position”.

Fiscozen’s disruptive SaaS platform simplifies critical processes like accounting, electronic invoicing and tax returns, unlocking significant efficiency gains for tax advisors serving micro businesses and sole traders.

Enrico Mattiazzi, CEO and co-founder of Fiscozen, says, “In our mission to free millions of Italian entrepreneurs from bureaucracy, Visma is the ideal partner. Our new investor provides the industry expertise and the financial strength to bolster our endeavours further”.

“At the same time, we can contribute to Visma’s founders’ network, by bringing in our vision beyond cloud software. Software will automate all administrative tasks and ultimately become invisible, freeing the time for tax advisors and their customers to engage in meaningful human conversations,” adds Vito Lomele, co-founder of Fiscozen.

Small customers, big benefits

Fiscozen supports sole traders, a customer group consisting of nearly 3.7 million self-employed people in Italy, and the tax advisors who provide services to them. Tax advisors who partner with Fiscozen significantly increase their productivity and can devote more time to assisting their customers. Fiscozen’s customers enjoy the fastest tax assistance in the market, with an average chat response time below five minutes.

“Coming from the Nordics, we have seen for many years already how adapting to new technologies has reinvigorated the whole accounting industry. All the manual and time-consuming tasks are becoming a thing of the past, freeing up time for more value-creating advisory services, and making the industry more attractive for new talents. We expect to see the same trend in Continental Europe over the next few years, and Visma aims to be a driving force, with our modern and user-friendly cloud solutions”, says Hverven.

Stian Berg, Director at Visma M&A adds, “Our entry into Italy has been greatly facilitated by having Translink as our advisor. We have worked with them for years and most recently in France as we entered that market. Having a global firm with the local and sector-specific expertise needed was essential to achieving a successful outcome.”