This article is a part of Poland Unpacked. Weekly intelligence for decision-makers
After taking the company private, Jakub Skałbania set out to consolidate the industry. Along the way, he turned down a raft of investment offers. The right partner turned out to be Collana, backed by the Ufenau fund. “We are not just another company in the portfolio,” the entrepreneur stresses.
“Since delisting, we have been receiving an average of one investment proposal a month,” Jakub Skałbania, CEO and founder of Netwise, told XYZ a year ago. He and his business partner took the IT company, founded in 2008, private from NewConnect at the end of 2023 at a valuation of around PLN 50 million (EUR 11.7 million).
The entrepreneur consistently rejected takeover offers – until the right one came along. It probably values Netwise at two or even three times that amount.
“We are not disclosing the details of the transaction, and I will not comment on the valuation. All I will say is that we were under no pressure to sell. We spent the entire year discussing with the investor how to structure the transaction and our joint plan. We are profitable, growing and could comfortably operate independently for years to come. But that would be too slow if we want to compete among Europe’s top players,” says Jakub Skałbania, founder and CEO of Netwise.
Netwise and Collana join forces
Netwise is already a leading implementation and consulting firm in the region specializing in Microsoft software, including Dynamics 365 and Power Platform, with a particular focus on CRM, or customer relationship management systems. In August, it became part of Collana, an international group with German roots and a similar business profile. Existing shareholders, led by Jakub Skałbania, reinvested part of the proceeds.
“For some time, we had been looking for a partner that could provide not only strong financial foundations, but also fit us in terms of market presence, culture and entrepreneurial mindset. We found exactly that in the Collana Group: an opportunity to become part of something bigger while preserving our strengths and identity,” says Jakub Skałbania.
“Bringing Netwise into the group is a milestone on the journey we began five years ago. It not only complements our capabilities precisely in the areas we were looking to strengthen, but is also an excellent cultural fit,” adds Dirk Wieland, CEO of Collana Group.
A key role for the Polish company in Europe
Jakub Skałbania stresses that the market for Dynamics partners in Europe is consolidating rapidly. In two or three years, he says, discussions about joining a pan-European group would take place on much less favorable terms. Netwise itself had wanted to become a consolidator and had a budget of several dozen million zlotys (several million euros) for acquisitions. But it failed to find the right company.
“Collana is buying specialization, not scale. It is a group of companies, each of which is best in its particular niche: ERP, Business Central, security, data & analytics. The missing piece was enterprise-level CRM [for corporate clients – ed.], and that is where we come in. We are not just ‘another company in the portfolio.’ We complete the group’s architecture and will lead this business area across Europe,” the entrepreneur says.
Expert's perspective
The constraints – and potential – of Polish IT companies
The main barrier to building large technology companies in Poland is the insufficiently rapid availability of capital. It is relatively easy to raise a pre-seed or seed round [at an early stage of a startup’s development – ed.], and even a Series A. But Series B rounds [largely aimed at expansion – ed.] are most often raised from foreign funds.
This is largely a result of how risk is valued. A company incorporated in Delaware with an R&D team in Warsaw is worth more than the same business founded and run in the Polish capital. Founders are therefore behaving rationally.
Another common barrier is a lack of experience in international business. It is easier to focus on local customers than to build and scale operations abroad. And without that, it is impossible to build a large IT company.
At the same time, Polish companies are increasingly becoming acquirers themselves. We are starting to acquire French, German and British companies. I am convinced that over the next few years we will see several very large Polish technology companies taking on global suppliers.
An IT group backed by a private-equity giant
The German group is backed by Ufenau Capital Partners, a Swiss private-equity firm. It manages around €5 billion in assets. The fund looks for companies in promising sectors that can serve as platforms for market consolidation, following a buy-and-build strategy.
Ufenau built Collana through a series of acquisitions, starting in 2020 with the purchase of Mac IT Solutions. Today, the group employs around 500 people across more than a dozen companies in Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Turkey. It focuses on the digitization and automation of business processes, particularly ERP and CRM systems, business applications, data analytics and cloud solutions.
“We are bringing CRM capabilities, agentic AI, expertise in Microsoft’s partner program and knowledge of the CEE [Central and Eastern European – ed.] market to Collana. In terms of headcount, we account for roughly one-fifth of the combined group. Netwise is one of the largest transactions in its history and its first entry into our region,” says Jakub Skałbania.
Market consolidation is gathering pace
Collana is looking to acquire IT companies with more than EUR 3 million in revenue (around PLN 13 million), EBITDA margins above 15% and clear growth prospects. Netwise, which employs 120 people, fits those criteria closely.
Between 2019 and 2024, the Polish company tripled its revenue to PLN 34.5 million (EUR 8 million). Operating profit increased tenfold to more than PLN 10 million (EUR 2.3 million), while net profit rose even more, reaching PLN 9 million (EUR 2.1 million). In 2025, sales reached PLN 44 million (EUR 10.2 million), while adjusted EBITDA came to PLN 11.6 million (EUR 2.7 million). That translates into a high level of profitability by industry standards, with a margin of more than 26%.
“We hit a geographic and structural ceiling, not a capability ceiling. Over 18 years, we built a position in Central Europe that can no longer be expanded significantly. And the biggest CRM projects in Europe go to organizations with a presence, references and teams in several countries,” Jakub Skałbania explains.
Building that position ourselves could have taken years, whether organically or through acquisitions. But the market is moving faster. We cannot afford to wait.
“From day one, Collana gives us access to Europe’s largest Microsoft Dynamics market: DACH [German-speaking countries – ed.]. It also gives us access to the talent pool and to the group’s customers who have ERP systems and data but lack a CRM partner of our caliber. We bring CRM to its customers, while it opens doors for us that would take several years to break down from Warsaw. If it were possible at all without a local team,” the entrepreneur explains.
Netwise is not changing
The founder of Netwise admitted in an interview with XYZ last year that he had turned down investor offers because he enjoyed running his own company. There was also the fact that a takeover by a private-equity fund would have required a change in the business model.
“I stand by that, and I think that is precisely why this transaction came about. A classic private-equity takeover, in which Netwise would become a ‘line item in an Excel spreadsheet’ managed by an outside board, was never an option. We will still have fun at Collana because it operates under a different model: it is a group of specialized, independent Microsoft partners, each of which retains its brand, team, culture and way of working,” says Jakub Skałbania.
He insists that Netwise will not change its character, team or approach to customers. Preserving its most important characteristics was a non-negotiable condition for him.
“I will continue to run the company and, what is more, I will take responsibility for building CRM capabilities across the group in Europe. So we are not changing the business model. We are changing the scale,” Jakub Skałbania concludes.
Key Takeaways
- A Polish company joins a major group. Polish IT firm Netwise has become part of Collana, a Germany-based group backed by Swiss private-equity firm Ufenau Capital Partners, which manages around €5 billion in assets. Ufenau has built Collana through a series of acquisitions since 2020. The group now employs around 500 people across more than a dozen companies in Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Turkey. It focuses on the digitization and automation of business processes using Microsoft technologies, particularly ERP and CRM systems, business applications, data analytics and cloud solutions.
- A Polish company joins a major group. Polish IT firm Netwise has become part of Collana, a Germany-based group backed by Swiss private-equity firm Ufenau Capital Partners, which manages around €5 billion in assets. Ufenau has built Collana through a series of acquisitions since 2020. The group now employs around 500 people across more than a dozen companies in Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Turkey. It focuses on the digitization and automation of business processes using Microsoft technologies, particularly ERP and CRM systems, business applications, data analytics and cloud solutions.
- A joint plan to conquer Europe. After taking the company private at the end of 2023, the entrepreneur repeatedly turned down investment offers. He had also considered consolidating the market himself, with a budget of several dozen million zlotys. He failed to find the right company, but found the right business partner instead. “A classic private-equity takeover, in which Netwise would become a ‘line item in an Excel spreadsheet’ managed by an outside board, was never an option. I will continue to run the company and, what is more, I will take responsibility for building CRM capabilities across the entire group in Europe,” Jakub Skałbania stresses.