Main Capital Partners announces its third successful strategic exit this year with sale of Textkernel to Bullhorn

In cooperation with Main, Textkernel was able to significantly grow its resume parsing and source & match software, while further enhancing its suite of recruitment and talent management solutions for HR Tech vendors, staffing agencies and corporate clients. This strategic exit represents Main’s third exit of 2024, and marks the second largest to date.

In September 2020, Main Capital Partners made its strategic investment in Textkernel alongside the current management team. Since then, Main and Textkernel management have embarked on a strategic growth journey that transformed Textkernel’s profile to a talent acquisition software solution provider, expanding on its offering of value-adding HR and recruitment solutions. During its cooperation with Main, Textkernel transformed its profile significantly, making a strong push into the North American recruitment market (a.o. through the acquisition of U.S.-based Sovren), expanding its product suite with complementary workflow automation solutions, and increasing its TAM with value-added propositions for corporate clients. Today, Textkernel is recognized as a prominent player in its field, thanks to a committed group of over 200 employees with a mission to connect people and jobs better.

With Main’s support, Textkernel has significantly grown its software businesses, both organically as well as through four selective strategic add-on acquisitions that broadened the company’s product portfolio and further expanded its market share across global markets. In a period of less than four years, Textkernel almost tripled its revenues, driven by expansion of its client base from less than 1,000 to almost 2,500 clients globally. By joining Bullhorn, Textkernel will benefit from access to over $47 million in annual R&D and technical operations expenditure, a strong delivery engine, experience delivering enterprise projects at scale, and investments in cutting-edge AI research and technology.

Gerard Mulder, CEO of Textkernel, on the strategic combination with Bullhorn: “Four years ago, we successfully executed on a management buy-out with backing of Main. Since then, we embarked on a very rewarding growth strategy that transformed Textkernel from Europe’s leading parsing and source & match vendor into a true global market leader in these domains, while also substantially expanding our value proposition for HR workflows for our staffing and corporate clients. The acquisition by Bullhorn is great news for Textkernel customers. Bullhorn has a strong track record of retaining and investing in acquired products and services.”

Matt Fischer, President and Chief Operating Officer at Bullhorn, adds: “Textkernel is the leader in AI talent sourcing solutions, and we’re thrilled to accelerate the next chapter of our AI strategy with the best parsing and matching technology in the market.”

Sjoerd Aarts, Partner Main & Chairman Supervisory Board Textkernel, concludes: “We look back on a highly successful partnership with the Textkernel team. Thanks to our unique position as the most active software investor in Europe and our growing local presence in the US, we were able to support Textkernel on a buy-&-build strategy across both regions, rapidly expanding Textkernel’s global presence while also accelerating growth in existing core regions. We are proud to announce Textkernel as the third exit to an international strategic buyer realized from our Benelux portfolio this quarter, and we are thrilled to congratulate Textkernel on the next step in their growth strategy under the wings of Bullhorn.”