Strada Partners is selling its software platform, Toba, to Ortec, which also specialises in supply chain and workforce management solutions.
The deal gives Ortec access to Toba’s deep expertise and local market knowledge in Belgium and Luxembourg, while Toba can tap into Ortec’s scale and planning technology.
“Over the past four years, we’ve transformed the company together with Strada, investing in our people, our technology and our customers,” said CEO Tine van Brandt (pictured) in a statement.
Strada Partners acquired Toba in September 2022 after seeing significant potential in the carve-out’s people and product. Since then, Strada has supported Toba in building a new management team, accelerating its product innovation, transitioning towards a SaaS model, and strengthening the organisation overall. Today, the company serves around 250 clients across the Benelux.
“Looking back on the past 1.5 years, it has been an incredible personal journey filled with learning and growth,” said Toba CFO Daan Bloemen. “I am deeply grateful for the trust that was placed in me and for the chance to contribute to Toba's story.”
A first for Strada Partners
“Toba was Strada’s first investment, so this is a proud milestone,” said Strada managing partner Bart Wouters. “Tine and her team grew recurring revenue by more than 250 percent and completed the shift to SaaS to become the clear market leader. Toba is now well positioned to continue its growth trajectory.”
This transaction also marks Strada’s first exit since its founding in 2022, shortly before Toba’s acquisition. The firm mainly focuses on majority investments in business services, technology and healthcare, which it calls “sectors where the team combines deep operational and investment experience”.
To date, the company has two funds with about €600 million in assets under management and has completed 15 platform investments, including AXI Digital, Anchor, Invincible Software Holdings, Elsyca, Tresco, Bloom, Dataasharp, Numeris, Insera, SoFlow, Cofactor, Rivage, CSU, Mercurio, and – until now – Toba.
A new era with Ortec
“Becoming part of Ortec gives us the scale, expertise and reach to accelerate innovation and support our customers even better in the years ahead,” Tine noted.
Backed by Battery Ventures, Ortec has been delivering technology that enables companies to achieve greater efficiency, reliability and human-centric innovation across their operations for over 40 years.
“At ORTC, we believe work should flow – even in the most complex environments – and Toba shares that mindset,” commented Ortec CEO Georgios Sarigiannidis. “Together, we’re strengthening our ability to provide healthcare organisations with smarter, more intuitive solutions to plan, manage and optimise their workforce, improving care delivery and employee experience.”
Daan shared that he is “looking forward to continuing the journey as part of Ortec and, together, making work flow”.
An advisor’s perspective
During the deal, Strada was advised by Lincoln International on M&A matters, Cambrian on a legal front, and EightAdvisory on financial and technical due diligence.
“It has been a privilege to support Strada Partners on the successful sale of Toba…” said Lincoln International MD Patrice Maas. “Leveraging our deep sector expertise, we positioned Toba as a differentiated, mission-critical software platform and executed a highly competitive process that delivered an outstanding outcome for our client. We are grateful for the trust placed in our team and wish both Toba and Ortec every success as they embark on the next chapter of growth together.”
Gabriel Englebert, Lincoln International MD and head of Belgium, added: “Supporting Strada Partners on their first exit highlights the current momentum of Lincoln International in the Belgian market. This transaction showcased again how we are able to deliver premium outcomes for our clients through local execution capabilities and global sector expertise.”
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