The Swedish company is paying 20 million euros for the Cologne-based start-up. Userlike will continue to operate independently.

Swedish company Lime has bought chatbot provider Userlike for €19.8 million. The Swedish software developer wants to expand its portfolio and gain a foothold in the German market. However, the Cologne-based start-up is to remain largely independent.

Userlike was founded in 2011 and offers chatbots and website messaging for companies, among other things. The startup's roughly 2,000 customers include companies such as Allianz, Lufthansa, Porsche and BMW. Since 2014, Userlike's growth has been around 30 percent per year. Co-founder David Voswinkel most recently held just under 49% of the shares in Userlike, with Timoor Taufig accounting for just under 44%. Just under 40 people work for the Cologne-based SaaS startup.

"The integration into an internationally successful group of companies will help us to develop our software faster, grow stronger as a company and realize long-term visions," Taufig tells the Rheinische Post

.

Initially, Lime will buy 90 percent of the shares. Presumably in two years, the Swedes want to acquire the remaining ten percent. Lime also plans to open a Cologne office from August. Userlike is to operate independently of the parent company. The start-up will be allowed to sell its products separately and under its old name. At the same time, Lime wants to integrate the software as an add-on into its own software. Lime offers a customer relationship management (CMR) system.


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Startup 2011 Köln Userlike Offers a live chat software solution for web and messenger support.

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