Bain Capital Acquires Supply Chain Network SupplyOn

London (UK) – Bain Capi­tal, a global private invest­ment firm, announ­ced the acqui­si­tion of Supp­lyOn, a supply chain colla­bo­ra­tion plat­form for the auto­mo­tive, aero­space, and defense indus­tries, as well as other advan­ced manu­fac­tu­ring sectors across Europe, from its share­hol­ders AUMOVIO, Bosch, Schaeff­ler, and ZF. Kirk­land & Ellis advi­sed Bain Capi­tal Tech Oppor­tu­ni­ties on this transaction. 

Supp­lyOn opera­tes a tech­no­logy plat­form that connects more than 200 major manu­fac­tu­r­ers and Tier 1 suppli­ers with over 140,000 suppli­ers world­wide. The plat­form supports manu­fac­tu­r­ers and suppli­ers in colla­bo­ra­ting across the entire supply chain and the entire procu­re­ment lifecycle—from sourcing and purcha­sing through quality manage­ment, logi­stics, and invoi­cing to ESG compliance—all on a single, inte­gra­ted plat­form. Supp­lyOn was foun­ded in 2000 and has since evol­ved into a market-leading plat­form serving the broa­der Euro­pean manu­fac­tu­ring ecosystem. 

Bain Capi­tal will work closely with SupplyOn’s manage­ment team to support the company’s next phase of growth. The invest­ment will bols­ter product deve­lo­p­ment, inclu­ding the intro­duc­tion of new AI capa­bi­li­ties to the plat­form to drive custo­mer outco­mes. In addi­tion, there will be an increased focus on sales and marke­ting to acce­le­rate custo­mer adop­tion among manu­fac­tu­r­ers and in the defense sectors, where Supp­lyOn curr­ently has a growing presence. 

Bain Capi­tal’s Tech Oppor­tu­ni­ties Investment

The firm’s busi­ness in Europe reflects its exten­sive expe­ri­ence in inves­t­ing in Euro­pean tech­no­logy and indus­trial compa­nies,combi­ned with its long-stan­­ding exper­tise in the aero­space and defense sectors. The digi­tiza­tion of the Euro­pean supply chain remains signi­fi­cantly under­de­ve­lo­ped, parti­cu­larly in complex manu­fac­tu­ring, where supply chain coor­di­na­tion is criti­cal given the growing comple­xity of supply chains for produc­tion proces­ses. Bain Capi­tal is commit­ted to main­tai­ning SupplyOn’s Euro­pean opera­tio­nal presence, data resi­dency, and gover­nance struc­ture, ther­eby ensu­ring conti­nuity for custo­mers who rely on the platform’s sove­reig­nty and compli­ance stan­dards. SupplyOn’s product quality, estab­lished custo­mer base, and network reach posi­tion the company to capi­ta­lize on this opportunity. 

The tran­sac­tion is subject to the usual closing condi­ti­ons and regu­la­tory appr­ovals. The finan­cial terms of the tran­sac­tion were not disclosed. 

“Supp­lyOn offers a rare combi­na­tion of product quality, network strength, strong custo­mer repre­sen­ta­tion, and market leader­ship in supply chain coor­di­na­tion across Europe,” said James Stevens, a part­ner on Bain Capital’s Tech Oppor­tu­ni­ties team. “The company has built a deeply embedded plat­form that custo­mers rely on for their day-to-day opera­ti­ons. We see a real runway to expand into adja­cent sectors and invest in product capa­bi­li­ties that are criti­cal to both manu­fac­tu­r­ers and suppliers.” 

“Supp­lyOn builds on our long-stan­­ding presence in Europe, and in Germany in parti­cu­lar. Through our indus­trial port­fo­lio, we are custo­mers of Supp­lyOn and under­stand the criti­cal role it plays. “We have long-stan­­ding rela­ti­onships with SupplyOn’s share­hol­ders and look forward to conti­nuing to support their busi­ness in the future,” said Dr. Michael Siefke, Part­ner and Chair­man of Europe Private Equity at Bain Capi­tal.

“We are plea­sed to part­ner with Bain Capi­tal, which shares our long-term vision for Supp­lyOn as a stra­te­gic capi­tal provi­der in the supply chain ecosys­tem across Europe,” said Markus Quicken, CEO of Supp­lyOn. “This part­ner­ship will enable us to acce­le­rate our product road­map and expand our market reach.” 

Advi­sors to Bain Capi­tal Tech Oppor­tu­ni­ties: Kirk­land & Ellis, Munich

Maxi­mi­lian Liegl (Lead, Private Equity/M&A); Asso­cia­tes: Mirjam Meyer, Fabian Walter­höl­ter, Lisa Müller, Dr. Eric Scheu, Alice Treu­­le­­ben-von Gans (all Private Equity/M&A), Dr. Florian Schütte (Tax)
Kirk­land & Ellis, London: Jacob Traff (Lead Coun­sel, Private Equity/M&A), Sam Sher­wood, Chris­to­pher Shield (both Debt Finance), Erika Krum (Inter­na­tio­nal Trade & Natio­nal Secu­rity), Rebecca Perl­man (Sustaina­bi­lity), Peter Abott, Cosmos Fung (both Tax), André Duminy, Jenni­fer Wilson (both Tech­no­logy & IP Tran­sac­tions); Asso­cia­tes: Ben Egan (Debt Finance), Mark Shak­kour (Invest­ment Funds), Tiho­mir Svil­a­no­vic (Sustaina­bi­lity), Shareen Dhil­lon (Tech­no­logy & IP Transactions)

About Kirk­land

With more than 4,000 attor­neys in 24 cities across the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, Kirk­land & Ellis is one of the leading law firms provi­ding high-cali­­ber legal services. The German team focu­ses on advi­sing clients in the areas of private equity, M&A, restruc­tu­ring, corpo­rate and secu­ri­ties law, finan­cing, and tax law. For more infor­ma­tion, please visit kirkland.com.

About Bain Capital

Foun­ded in 1984, Bain Capi­tal is one of the world’s leading private invest­ment firms. We are commit­ted to crea­ting sustainable impact for our inves­tors, port­fo­lio compa­nies, and the commu­ni­ties in which we live. As a private part­ner­ship, we operate with convic­tion and a culture of collaboration—advantages that enable us to inno­vate in our invest­ment approa­ches, unlock oppor­tu­ni­ties, and deli­ver excep­tio­nal results. Our global plat­form invests across five focus areas: private equity, growth and venture, capi­tal solu­ti­ons, credit and capi­tal markets, and real estate. We have 24 offices across four conti­nents, employ more than 2,000 people, and manage appro­xi­m­ately $225 billion in assets. For more infor­ma­tion, visit www.baincapital.com.

About Supp­ly­On­Sup­ply

On is a leading cloud-based supply chain colla­bo­ra­tion plat­form that connects manu­fac­tu­r­ers with their global busi­ness part­ners. Supp­lyOn was foun­ded in 2000 and is head­quar­te­red in Hall­berg­moos, near Munich. SupplyOn’s network connects over 140,000 compa­nies world­wide across the auto­mo­tive, aero­space, rail, and other manu­fac­tu­ring indus­tries. The plat­form enables struc­tu­red digi­tal colla­bo­ra­tion in the areas of purcha­sing, procu­re­ment, quality manage­ment, logi­stics, and finance—and helps manu­fac­tu­r­ers streng­then colla­bo­ra­tion, trans­pa­rency, and execu­tion in complex, multi-tiered supply chains.