TransIP Group on its merger with Combell Group

Ali Niknam and Jonas Dhaenens, the founders of TransIP and Combell respectively, have joined forces with investment from Hg to create one of the largest founder-led hosting groups, with leading sector positions in the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland.

The merger of the two companies results in the creation of team.blue, one of the latest European tech companies to exceed a $1 billion valuation. Team.blue will offer digital tools such as hosting, email and applications to over 1.2 million customers across Europe, with a base of over 600 employees.

Both Combell and TransIP have grown organically over the years as well as running successful buy & build strategies. In 2017, Combell made a ‘quantum leap’ by joining forces with Zitcom, a Danish hosting group. In the Netherlands, TransIP transformed the sector with its industry leading BladeVPS platform and expanded its activities after acquiring IT-Ernity in 2018, which today houses some of the most trusted IT brands in the Netherlands.

The transaction adds to Torch’s strong track record in the hosting, colocation, cloud, and internet infrastructure sector, and follows on from Torch’s role as exclusive financial adviser to TransIP in their acquisition of IT-Ernity in 2018.