Ardian, a global private investment firm, announces the acquisition of a majority stake in Pflegia, a high growth German digital platform connecting healthcare professionals and care providers.
Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Berlin, Pflegia addresses the structural healthcare staffing shortage through an AI-powered reverse-recruiting platform where candidates register their preferences and qualifications, and a proprietary algorithm matching them with the best-suited care providers, leveraging the largest healthcare candidate database in Germany. With deep, long-standing knowledge of its clients’ hiring workflows, Pflegia has built a candidates-first platform with exceptional matching precision, enabling healthcare professionals to find their ideal positions faster and care providers to fill critical roles more efficiently.
Pflegia has grown rapidly to become Germany's leading digital healthcare recruitment platform, building a unique proprietary database of over 900,000 registered healthcare candidates and expanding its customer base to over 10,000 care providers nationwide. In 2024, the company further extended its reach across the German healthcare ecosystem with the launch of Praxia, a dedicated platform targeting medical and dental practice staff.
Ardian's investment marks an important milestone in Pflegia’s growth journey, with the aim to stay at the forefront of AI innovation in healthcare recruitment. Leveraging its extensive track record of partnering with founder-led technology companies, Ardian will actively support Pflegia's management team across company strategy, platform development, organizational scaling, international expansion and external growth initiatives.
Following its recent investment in Spain, Ardian’s Growth team is further strengthening its presence in Germany with the acquisition of Pflegia. This transaction confirms the Growth team’s DNA as a true European growth investor, committed to supporting ambitious founders and continuing to pursue new growth opportunities across Europe.
“With this new deal in Germany, Ardian reaffirms its long track record of supporting management teams in their ambitions, helping them transform national category champions into European leaders - both organically and through targeted acquisitions. We are delighted to partner with Lennart, Felix and Masoud, a founding team that has already demonstrated clear execution capabilities and strong industry expertise. Alongside them and as a European investor we want to be the architects of Pflegia's European growth story. ” Romain Chiudini & Geoffroy De La Grandière, Managing Directors Growth, Ardian
“We are proud to partner with Lennart, Felix and Masoud to support Pflegia's growth journey. Pflegia meets all the criteria of the companies we seek to back within Ardian’s Growth strategy: a founder-led platform with a clear market leadership position, exceptional unit economics and a proven ability to scale. We have been impressed by what the founders have achieved since launch — they identified a critical market need and responded with bold technological innovation. We are excited to work closely with them to unlock Pflegia's full potential.” Pierre Schaeffer, Director Growth, Ardian
“With Pflegia, we've built the platform that healthcare professionals and providers across Germany genuinely rely on and trust to find the right match. Ardian's experience scaling founder-led platforms across Europe, combined with their long-term, hands-on approach, gives us exactly what we need to accelerate our growth internationally, deepen our AI capabilities, and bring Pflegia's model to new markets. We are looking forward to building the next chapter of Pflegia together.” Lennart Steuer, Felix Westphal & Masoud Shahryari, Co-Founders, Pflegia
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ABOUT ARDIAN
In a world of constant evolution, Ardian stands out for its ability to anticipate, adapt, and turn challenges into opportunities. As a global, diversified private markets firm with 22 offices and more than 350 investment professionals worldwide, we provide investment and customized solutions that reflect new economic dynamics and help our clients remain resilient in a changing world.
We deliver multi-local expertise and long-term performance for our investors and partners as well as shared value for the broader society. Since Ardian’s inception in 1996, our pioneering approach to diversification and our ability to offer tailor-made solutions at scale have remained the heart of our strategy.
Through commitment, knowledge and technology, we bring lasting value to our companies and contribute positively to the whole industry.
Ardian currently manages or advises $200bn for more than 1,920 clients worldwide across Private Equity, Real Assets, and Credit.
Ardian. Mastering change for lasting value.
ABOUT PFLEGIA
Pflegia is a leading digital recruitment platform for healthcare professionals in Germany, dedicated to permanent placements. The Berlin-based company was founded in 2019 by Felix Westphal, Lennart Steuer and Masoud Shahryari to bring more transparency and fairness to the application process in the healthcare sector.
At the core of its model is a matching process that reverses the traditional application flow: employers actively approach and apply to healthcare professionals, supported by AI-powered process optimization and personal guidance on both sides of the marketplace. In addition, Pflegia provides information on salaries, working hours and other employment conditions to make comparisons easier and support candidates in their decision-making process.
Pflegia currently places around 1,000 healthcare professionals with healthcare providers across Germany every month. Today, more than 900,000 healthcare professionals and around 10,000 employers use the platform, which lists approximately 30,000 open positions.
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Pflegia has grown rapidly to become Germany's leading digital healthca...
