Everstone Capital Merges Wingify with AB Tasty in Strategic SaaS Consolidation

Everstone Capital is executing a strategic merger between its portfolio company Wingify and French content optimization firm AB Tasty, marking another significant consolidation in the global SaaS sector. The Singapore-based private equity firm has invested substantial capital to restructure AB Tasty's ownership, effectively clearing out most existing investors to facilitate the combination of both entities.

Transaction Structure and Investor Exit

The merger involves Everstone Capital buying out the majority of AB Tasty's existing investor base. According to Sparsh Gupta, co-founder and CEO of Wingify, "Majority of the investors from the AB Tasty side are being cleaned up." AB Tasty's previous backers included several prominent European investment firms:

AB Tasty last raised capital in 2020 through a $40 million Series C round, bringing its total funding to $64 million. The specific investors who have sold their stakes to Everstone Capital and the exact transaction terms remain undisclosed.

Leadership and Governance Changes

The merger will result in significant changes to the combined entity's leadership structure. AB Tasty co-founders Rémi Aubert and Alix de Sagazan will relinquish their board seats but retain voting rights in the merged company. They will assume new operational roles as chief customer and strategy officer, and chief revenue officer, respectively.

Gupta emphasized that "The co-founders from AB Tasty and myself and our CTO Ankit Jain continue to be significant individual shareholders and remain deeply invested in the combined entity."

Financial Performance and Revenue Projections

The merger creates a substantial revenue base for the combined organization. Gupta revealed that "Both businesses, standalone, are profitable. The combined entity will now have over $100 million in annual recurring revenue." At the time of Wingify's recent Blitzllama acquisition, the company reported its annual recurring revenue was approaching $60 million.

Wingify's recent financial performance shows strong revenue growth but declining profitability:

The profit decline was primarily attributed to increased employee expenses as the company expanded its workforce.

Strategic Expansion and Market Position

This merger represents the second major transaction for Wingify within a month, following its acquisition of Y Combinator startup Blitzllama in December for an undisclosed amount. The combination occurs just over a year after Everstone acquired a majority stake in the bootstrapped SaaS company for $200 million, which resulted in co-founder Paras Chopra's exit.

According to Tracxn data, AB Tasty ranks fourth among 561 companies globally in the website optimization space, making it a strategic acquisition target. The merger supports Wingify's shift toward enterprise sales after historically focusing on small and medium businesses.

Industry Context and Future Outlook

The Wingify-AB Tasty merger reflects the maturation of India's SaaS ecosystem, with multiple companies preparing for public market debuts. Several Indian SaaS firms including Amagi, Leadsquared, BusinessNext, Zenoti, Icertis, Mindtickle, Juspay, and Whatfix are considering public market opportunities.

Gupta indicated the combined entity will leverage enhanced data capabilities and local market presence to pursue larger enterprise deals and invest more heavily in artificial intelligence capabilities. "We'll now have access to a lot more data points, which allows our platform to have more depth and breath, giving us more context on users in a more nuanced manner," he explained.