2 years after its creation, European Digital Group (EDG) generates € 120M in turnover and 20% profitability. The group founded and led by Vincent Klingbeil has 8 complementary companies around communication and digital transformation. Vincent Klingbeil details the group’s model, its strategy and its mode of internal synergy.
100% MEDIA: How is the short history and evolution of the EDG group summed up?
Vincent Klingbeil: After having started with a career as a business lawyer, I very quickly chose to convert myself into entrepreneurship. I then embarked on the creation of a few start-ups in the digital field without meeting too many results until the launch of Ametix which was very successful, and which I sold in 2017 to Docaposte (La group Job).
Following this I was looking for a new challenge to take up and it was in May 2019, during a lunch with Eric Bismuth, CEO of Montefiore Investments, one of the most successful players in European private equity, that the project to create European Digital Group was born.
The idea emerged from the fact that we were both driven by the belief that between small specialists and large generalists there was a lack of a crossover model between the two to meet the needs of large clients, on the model of S4. Capital created by Martin Sorrell.
We thought then that it was necessary to federate within a single structure ultra specialists in each lever engaged in the digitalization of companies, and from there was born the model of European Digital Group.
Two years later, EDG generates more than 120 million in turnover, generates more than 20% profitability, and brings together under the same dynamic, 8 fast-growing companies bringing together more than 1000 ultras specialists in their fields and covering a large part of the chain of digital professions. The team was completed by the arrival ofEdwina Bassil (Senior Investment Manager – Partner), Gustave Carasi (Chief Financial Officer – Partner) et Vanessa Meritet (Marketing & Communications Manager).
100% MEDIA: How many companies does the group currently have?
VK: To date, we bring together 8 major players who are ultra specialists in each of the levers of digital acceleration to offer a global and personalized offer thanks to their complementarity: BigBoss and Proximum365 / Vimeet for BtoB lead generation, Ad’s up Consulting for digital performance, Orès for integrated communication, Foll-ow for referral and influence, Metsys for IT and cybersecurity services, Wold for consulting and recruitment and Axome for e-Commerce.
100% MEDIA: What are the “secrets” for all companies to really work together?
VK: The “secret” is simple and it is indeed the heart of our model and of its success, we strive daily to promote synergies at all levels: we regularly organize meetings between teams by type of profession (founders, sales teams, communication, etc.) in order to maintain and organize exchanges within the group. We pool certain tools to guarantee and facilitate their fluidity and to simplify this collaboration.
On a daily basis, we pool our knowledge of the market, our sectors, our customers and our cultural diversity.
We offer dedicated commercial support to accelerate growth by leveraging our professional networks and participating in joint calls for tenders for which we create tailor-made mixed teams according to the expertise to be developed for each project.
And finally, each founding member also has stakes in European Digital Group and therefore has an interest in the success of the other members.
100% MEDIA: How does Martin Sorrell’s model inspire you?
VK: Martin Sorrell’s S4 Capital model is a big inspiration to me. We therefore built EDG by using its disruptive codes, breaking the existing models which generally lead to the fragmentation of large groups. First of all, we are purely digital, then we only unite companies that are already growing strongly under a unified structure, which allows us to be even more powerful and more agile.
It must be said that the growth results and stock market performance of S4 Capital make us dream … and we even try to push this model even further by offering in addition to marketing offers, an IT / Tech brick that allows us to respond effectively the digital acceleration issues of the biggest players already engaged in their transformation.
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