Webhelp

History

Webhelp is a global BPO provider, specialising in business process management and customer experience across a range of digital, social and traditional voice channels.

Webhelp, which has its global headquarters in Paris, France, grew its revenues by 265% between 2011 and 2015 by focusing on transformational outsourcing, omnichannel engagement and analytics.

Frédéric Jousset and Olivier Duha founded Webhelp in June 2000, offering real-time online assistance for Internet neophytes. They then launched contact centre operations, providing hotline, telemarketing, letter processing and email solutions.

Since then, Webhelp has grown through acquisitions and business growth and is now present in 29 countries, with more than 90 customer experience and payment service centres and over 35,000 people serving over 500 clients.

Present

In 2011, London-based private equity firm Charterhouse Capital Partners acquired a major stake in the company. In February 2013, the Group announced the agreed purchase of HEROtsc, the Falkirk, Scotland-based contact centre operations of Indian based Hero Group. The company employs over 2,000 people at six Scottish sites, over 900 at its site in Cardiff, and over 3,800 at four sites in England. In February 2014, Webhelp announced its acquisition of SNT Nederland B.V., Amersfoort: the Netherlands-based contact centre operations of Amsterdam-based private equity firm NEON. The company employs 3,500 staff at seven Dutch sites and one site in Paramaribo in Suriname.

In 2015, Webhelp acquired parts of Germany-based Walter Services, Italy and Czech Republic based OnLine, and CSM in Switzerland. The company also went on to acquire Callpex, a Turkey-based customer management firm, as part of their growth strategy outside of Europe. In the same year, Webhelp announced that it had entered into an agreement with KKR, a leading global investment firm, as a new investor and financial partner. The Webhelp management team became controlling shareholders, alongside KKR, while Charterhouse Capital Partners stepped back after over four years of successful collaboration with the company. The transaction closed in 2016.

In 2016, Webhelp has continued to grow through acquisition. In June 2016, Webhelp acquired GoExcellent, a leading Scandinavian customer experience firm. GoExcellent has nine centres across Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark, and employs 1,700 people. This acquisition allowed for the launch of Webhelp Nordic, and increased Webhelp's projected 2016 turnover to an estimated $1 billion (725 million Euros). In July, Webhelp Xtrasource in the Netherlands announced plans to acquire top Dutch customer experience firm Contact2Value, a specialist operator in inbound retention and outbound services employing 50 people. This allowed Webhelp to considerably strengthen its position in the Dutch marketplace. In October 2016, Webhelp announced it was acquiring Netino, a social content moderation company headquartered in Paris that extends across ten countries and has an international team of 400 people. The acquisition is set to be complete by the end of 2016.