Code & Co.

NORD Holding’s investment in VERSO marks the acquisition of one of the few ESG software solutions that has been established over many years and has since grown into a holistic service provider in the realm of corporate sustainability. VERSO supports companies with the effective and efficient acceleration of their sustainable transformation: from "Mission Zero" (carbon accounting, reduction, and offsetting) and ongoing sustainability management to ESG reporting (a focus area for VERSO). As a result, the company is ideally positioned to benefit from the EU CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) in the medium to long term.

VERSO addresses SMEs’ increasing need for digitalization and knowledge when it comes to matters of sustainability. There are especially relevant issues in light of the Directive on capital market-oriented companies issued in 2017 and its Europe-wide extension applied to smaller SMEs in 2022. In addition, VERSO is already successfully advising its customers on other regulatory challenges (e.g. Supply Chain Act).

The investment was made by two NORD Holding teams, Business Services and Software/Technology, and underlines sector competence in the area of technology-enabled services. The transaction was managed by Christian Moritz Kukwa, Christoph Grunewald, Moritz Stolp and Kornelius Karl Komischke on behalf of NORD Holding.

Scope of work

Code & Co. provided Tech & Product Due Diligence to NORD Holding ahead of its investment in VERSO, assessing its product offerings, technology stack, and architecture. Code & Co. also assessed VERSO’s engineering team, software development life cycle, and roadmap for product expansion.

About Verso

VERSO’s software (SaaS) solution and services for sustainability management provide medium-sized companies with holistic support during their sustainable transformation. VERSO’s consulting and training in CSR reporting, management, and climate accounting make the company an ideal partner for corporate sustainability and ESG. Using VERSO, sustainability managers are able to professionalize and digitalize their CSR management or increase the efficiency of existing processes, particularly CSR reporting. In addition, VERSO supports companies on their path towards climate neutrality. VERSO GmbH, based in Munich, was founded by Andreas Maslo and Florian Holl in 2010 and is managed by the two founders together with Nuvia Maslo. For more information, please visit: www.verso.de.

About NORD Holding

With over 50 years of history and assets under management of € 2.5 billion, NORD Holding is one of the leading private equity asset management companies in Germany. The focus is on the business areas of direct investments and fund of funds investments. The focus of the direct business is on the structuring and financing of corporate succession models, the acquisition of group divisions/subsidiaries and the expansion financing of medium-sized companies. In contrast to most other financial investors, which only manage funds with a limited term, NORD Holding acts as a so-called "evergreen fund" with no term restrictions and invests from its own balance sheet. The company is currently involved in more than 15 companies in Germany and other German-speaking countries. The Fund Investments division targets the small-cap segment of the European private equity market and focuses on primary, secondary and co-investments. NORD Holding concentrates strongly on buyout managers newly established on the market and operational investment strategies and regularly acts as an anchor investor.

About Code & Co.

Code & Co. is an independent advisory firm that specializes in providing modern, actionable Tech & Product Due Diligence for the global alternative investment industry. Our expertise uncovers risks that threaten asset value and opportunities to accelerate growth.