Queka Real Partners (“Queka”), a Spanish private equity firm focused on the lower mid-market, today announces the partnership of three specialist businesses - B2com, Smartgroup and Datos 101 - to form B2group, a technology services company providing integrated solutions across telecommunications, cloud and cybersecurity for SMEs, with the ambition to become one of the leading providers of technology services for small and medium-sized businesses in Spain.
The creation of B2group represents a strategic move by Queka and the management teams of the three businesses to address an attractive opportunity within the fragmented SME market. By bringing together complementary capabilities across telecom infrastructure, cybersecurity and cloud, B2group will streamline vendor relationships for SMEs, offering its services under a single, customer-centric structure.
The three underlying businesses offer differing, yet complementary services:
The combined platform unlocks significant synergies via an expanded service offering and cross-selling opportunities. Importantly, the experienced leadership teams of all three businesses will be retained, ensuring continuity and leveraging their deep industry knowledge to guide B2group’s next phase of growth across its three key verticals: Carlos Gató will oversee the areas of Strategy, Channel, Mobile and M&A, Gustavo Sobrino Martínez of B2com will be responsible for Virtual PBX, UCaaS and CCaaS, while Juan Llamazares of Datos 101 will head the Cybersecurity and Cloud Services vertical.
This transaction marks Queka’s ninth transaction to-date, and the third from its second fund, which recently announced its final closing at a size of €194 million, surpassing its €175 million target. With a track record spanning a diverse range of industries including education, cosmetics, food ingredients and software, Queka is excited to expand into the telecoms space, supporting a leading management team to build a category leader. This investment aligns with Queka’s strategy of partnering with ambitious, entrepreneurial management teams to proactively drive growth and build market-leading businesses through a combination of sophisticated financial expertise and hands-on entrepreneurial capabilities.
Nicolás Maraver and Carmen Álvarez, the deal leads at Queka, said: “We are thrilled to launch B2group alongside our exceptional partners at B2com, Smartgroup and Datos 101. We believe this platform has huge potential, and we are looking forward to seeing it flourish under the complementary experience and talent of the combined management team, which we have already seen working so well throughout this process. Together, we are confident B2group can become a leader in providing technology services to SMEs in Spain.”
Fernando Elío, Managing Partner at Queka, added: “We congratulate the whole team at B2group for closing such an intricate and complex transaction. This exceptional deal marks Queka’s third investment from its second fund, and we are excited to start the journey with the team to build significant value over the foreseeable future.”
Gustavo Sobrino Martínez of B2com, commented: “We are proud to introduce a comprehensive and unified offering to the Spanish SME market, and we believe it will deliver significant value to our existing and new customers.”
Carlos Gató, responsible for Strategy, Channel, Mobile and M&A, added: “We are excited to join forces with such a strong group of partners, and this collaboration represents a major milestone which we believe has the potential to change the landscape of digital services to SMEs within Spain.”
Juan Llamazares of Datos 101, said: “Partnering with Queka, with access to their extensive experience and support, positions us well to accelerate our vision to expand our product offering, grow both organically and through strategic acquisitions, and deliver even greater value to our customers.”
The transaction was supported by Deloitte (M&A), PwC (Finance, Legal, Tax and Labour) and KPMG (Commercial) as advisors, with Ortego & Cameno acting as legal counsel for Queka, and Latham & Watkins for B2group.
About Queka Real Partners:
Queka Real Partners is a Spanish private equity firm focused on the Iberian lower middle market. Since its inception in 2018, the firm has closed nine transactions across a diverse range of industries including education, cosmetics, food ingredients and software, and currently has over €350 million in assets under management.
Predominantly focused on a proprietary sourcing model, Queka aims to partner with dynamic management teams to accelerate growth within already robust businesses. Queka defines the lower middle market as businesses that generate between €2-5 million of EBITDA, a section of the market that the team believes is underserved and offers attractive opportunities to add significant value. The team creates value via multiple avenues, which include building efficiencies into existing processes, driving growth through strategic new initiatives and executing on buy & build opportunities.
With over 145 years of combined prior experience partnering with businesses in Spain, the Madrid-based team of nine investment professionals brings extensive knowledge from both operational and investment backgrounds, a combination that is highly valued by founders and management teams.
About B2group:
B2group is a technology services company providing integrated solutions across telecommunications, cloud, and cybersecurity for the Spanish SME market. The business was formed from a partnership of three specialist businesses – B2com, Smartgroup and Datos 101 – each with differing yet complementary offerings. The primary services provided by B2group to Spanish SMEs are: UCaaS and virtual switchboard services, mobile and fibre connections, data security and cloud services, premium-rate numbers and billing / terminal services. The business aims to provide these various critical technology services in a streamlined offering that is easy to access and manage for SMEs, with the ambition of becoming one of the leading providers of technology services for small and medium-sized enterprises in Spain.
cloud technology axon
With a target size of €250 million, the fund aims to complete betwee...
