smartmerger.com Re-invented

What prompted these changes was our internal discussion about what has driven our efforts as a team since 2010 building a platform that is changing the way M&A works. We found the answer in our shared beliefs and values.

In our hearts, we are technology enthusiasts who believe in the potential of internet technology to achieve great things if we succeed in connecting all dots – people and data. We put people first because we believe  that technology is made for humans and should be user-friendly and beautiful. We also believe that people with passion can change the world for the better.

In our minds, we are M&A experts who want to challenge the status quo of how M&A works by putting the focus on data rather than documents. In everything we do we have security in mind – and security has become our DNA.

Based on these values we have crafted our platform, which is natively designed and built to meet the highest expectations for security and usability and make the M&A process as efficient as possible.

In numerous customer projects we have gathered valuable insights, which we have incorporated into our platform. And we are grateful that one of our advisors, Prof. Dr. Kai Lucks, helped us apply some key Industry 4.0 (or ‘4th Industrial Revolution’, 4IR) concepts to M&A and implement a powerful, fully digitalized data management engine based on structured data.

We have crafted an entirely new architecture, designed and built for M&A from the bottom up. All along it has been our goal to achieve maximum flexibility for our clients’ M&A projects, no matter whether they are a small M&A boutique or a large, multinational enterprise. Our clients are free to select any of our specialized apps for specific, limited purposes, or utilize the entire suite of apps and connect their data end-to-end along their full M&A process.

We essentially invented the concept of Smart Fields. These are like building blocks for apps. A Smart Field can incorporate text, a question, a chart or other content. Every smart field can have specific attributes, such as a dropdown list of options, explanatory hints, logic, states or status options, hyperlinks and much more. Using our Smart Fields, clients can quickly and easily build custom, state-of the art internet applications. And, best of all: Smart Fields are interconnected and can “speak” to each other. This enables users to create a rich data lake of information, a single source of truth and a fully digitalized workspace for everyone. As the whole platform is based on an API structure, Smart Fields can even connect to third-party data sources or applications to retrieve or transmit data. This is what we call “M&A 4.0” – we connect all the dots end-to-end!

We know that M&A projects often require an abrupt jump start. There is no time to research and implement an M&A solution. Everything must be ready at once. This is why we created a comprehensive, out-of-the-box online suite of pre-configured M&A applications. We even provide a library and a store of ready-to-use content elements such as checklists or playbooks. We do not believe in one-size-fits-all in M&A since every M&A project is unique. Our super-easy-to-use interface enables our clients to swap content or change configuration settings in an instant. Simply save your best practices and settings to your library and have them ready for your next project.

To boost our scalability and financial flexibility, we have established a holding structure. smart technology group in Zürich is now our holding company, with dedicated business units for M&A and other digital products. We bundled all of our M&A products under the smartmerger.com brand and set up smartmerger.com AG in Zürich, Switzerland, as well as smartmerger.com GmbH in Munich, Germany. From our French and Italian regions in Switzerland, we serve clients and partners in Italy and France.

Our Logo

The first major change was our logo. The new logo symbolizes our Smart Fields concept combined with an end-to-end M&A process. The colors represent our core values:

• Red stands for protection and for our ‘security DNA’.
• Sunny orange stands for humanity and our people-centric approach, for happiness in our team, and for the user-friendliness of our applications.
• Blue represents the smart application of technology to make M&A better and more efficient.
• Green symbolizes caring about our environment and our responsibility for the planet Earth.

Our Website

Stepping out of the shadows of a pure white-labelling company, we are providing visitors of our website with more details about our company, products and value proposition. There are now dedicated pages for each M&A role and phase. And, as digital natives, we grant you access to our calendar to schedule a meeting with us.

Furthermore, we are very grateful to several of our customers for allowing us to share some selected reference case studies here – something we do not take for granted. In many cases confidentiality prohibits us from sharing these kinds of insights.

As we launch this new website, we are also introducing our new online magazine where we share valuable insights, experiences and thoughts about M&A-related topics.

Our M&A platform

We are proud to re-launch our product, the Smart M&A Platform, which we have upgraded to the latest Angular technology. It now features a state-of-the-art look and feel and substantial usability improvements. However, our clients are not required to use our default design – they are welcome to use the white-label option if they prefer. This means that the user interface will show their own corporate branding rather than ours.

One of the core elements of our platform is the library and store concept: These are the places where you can find pre-built applications, including content and configurations, and store your own custom apps and configuration settings. When you create your next project, you can easily retrieve your knowledge assets from your library or store and use them as a basis for your work.

Key features include: