• Hartl Group is a provider of „managed cloud services“ focussing on German SMEs
• Business expansion planned, through buy & build and organic growth
• Strong demand for IT infrastructure outsourcing with SMEs

Hartl Group GmbH is a leading provider of comprehensive and customized „managed cloud services“ operating its own state-of-the-art and energy efficient data centre at the highest level of certification standards. Besides further organic growth, acquisitions to expand the service portfolio and consolidate the market are an essential growth driver over the coming years. To achieve this goal, Hartl Group has agreed on a strategic partnership with Afinum Management GmbH, which is going to support the company in the next growth phase.

Afinum Neunte Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, advised by Afinum Management GmbH, takes a majority stake in Hartl Group GmbH with its subsidiaries Adcom Computertechnik GmbH, CPL 24 GmbH and CPL 24 Asset & License Services LLC (“Hartl Group”). Together with the company’s founder Peter Hartl, who will remain on board as CEO, and the existing management team, Afinum is planning further growth through acquisitions, the further development of new customers in focus markets such as the healthcare sector, a higher penetration of existing customers and a broadening of the range of services.

Attractive combination of technical performance and customized services
Out of its own data centre in Hofkirchen (Bavaria, near Passau) and further locations in Munich, Nuremberg and Vienna, Hartl Group offers comprehensive and customized “managed cloud services” for its customers. The state-of-the-art technical infrastructure with market-leading energy efficiency ​​and a high degree of automation enable Hartl Group to offer its cloud services with the same technical performance and scalability as large hyperscalers. In addition, Hartl Group has a deep understanding of its customers’ needs, which allow to specifically address the requirements of their SME customers and offer them the highest quality of service. Hartl Group’s range of services is rounded off by highest technical and data protection certification standards, which make it possible to address customers in regulated industries (e.g. IT, healthcare, public sector).

Sustainable trend towards IT outsourcing among SMEs
With regards to their IT infrastructure, SMEs are generally confronted with two critical challenges. On the one hand, the complexity of IT systems is increasing due to advancing digitization, on the other hand, qualified IT personnel are becoming increasingly scarce. Therefore, the relevance of comprehensive and reliable outsourcing solutions will continue to increase, especially in this segment. At the same time, smaller, local IT service providers are increasingly unable to meet the high technical and legal/data protection requirements of their customers. This results in a rapidly increasing demand for larger partners who can cover the entire spectrum of IT infrastructure outsourcing. Accordingly, the Hartl Group team, together with Afinum, has set itself the goal of a market consolidation of small and medium-sized providers of “managed cloud services” and other IT services as part of a buy & build strategy.

The investment in Hartl Group represents the third platform investment of Afinum Neunte Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, starting its investment period in early October 2021.