CEO, GRAITEC Group
GRAITEC, leader mondial - interview de notre Président Manuel Liedot
Interview de Manuel Liedot, Président de Graitec et de Thomas de Villeneuve, Partner et responsable des investissements Tech ...
About Manuel Liedot
Manuel Liedot, CEO of Graitec, has described the company as a global player in construction software with approximately 700 employees across 14 countries and around 300 million euros in revenue. He stated that following the 2022 acquisition of Applied Software in the U.S., about 50% of the company’s business is in North America and 50% in Europe, with less than 10% of revenue coming from France. Liedot said Graitec is an Autodesk Platinum partner and that its mission is to help construction professionals digitize and industrialize processes to build with less environmental impact. He noted that the company is investing in the steel industry and plans to release a new version of PowerPack for Advanced Steel in 2024. Liedot has also spoken about his personal history with the company, saying he joined Graitec shortly after co-developing the structural analysis software Arche in the early 1990s. He described himself as a defender of the "right to fail" as long as there is commitment and effort, and compared Graitec’s trajectory to a relay race and a second half of a match where the team is "boosted" and aims to achieve multiples of past performance. He cited the 1998 FIFA World Cup victory as a memorable sporting moment and named Yannick Noah as a coaching inspiration for his ability to instill engagement and a will to succeed.
Transcript (19 segments)
I
Interviewer0:16
The software edition sector is dynamic, with players doing well with nearly 20 billion euros in revenue. We're going to talk about this with my two guests, Manuel Liedot, President of GRAITEC, and Thomas Devilleneuve, Associate at Seventu. Hello. I'll turn to you first, Manuel Liedot. Double-digit growth for the sector, is that also the case for GRAITEC?
M
Manuel Liedot0:36
That's absolutely the case for GRAITEC. Perhaps I can say a few words about our activity. We are indeed a software publisher in the construction domain, and we have a specificity: we are also a partner, one of the first global partners of Autodesk, which is the leading platform in our sector. We help our clients, such as design offices, architects, etc., to digitalize and industrialize their processes to build better, faster, and with less impact on the planet.
I
Interviewer1:07
What service do you propose concretely?
M
Manuel Liedot1:09
We propose structure optimization software and energy simulation to help them better design and deliver their projects.
I
Interviewer1:19
So you have more than 700 employees in 14 countries, and you've doubled in size in three years since Seventu arrived.
M
Manuel Liedot1:26
Indeed, we have doubled in size. There have been many other transformations, I don't know if we'll return to that a bit later, but we've transformed the company quite a bit.
I
Interviewer1:33
Exactly, why call upon an investment fund?
M
Manuel Liedot1:37
For quite a few reasons. I see funds, and notably Seventu, as a business accelerator and a development accelerator for the company. Financially, obviously, especially on external growth topics, but also on advice, on expertise and counsel to help us develop the company.
T
Thomas Devilleneuve2:05
But first, a brief word on Pax Partners, which is a French independent private equity firm based in Paris. We manage about 5 billion euros today. We have two investment strategies: we invest in French SMEs with a fund called Développement, and we have a fund that invests in European companies, which is the fund that invested in GRAITEC, our Mid-Market fund. We chose GRAITEC for important reasons generally. First, it's an extremely attractive market, a global market, the construction market, a huge market that is digitizing slowly but surely. For us, it was quite obvious to be interested in this type of market. Then, GRAITEC has a very interesting position in this sector, a leading company in its niches, a business model that works well, generating cash and profitable. And above all, I believe, a very beautiful team. The founder, Francis Guimard, who passed the baton to Manuel Liedot, who now leads the company. And something very important for us is the ability to work together and develop the company together. The certainty that we could get along with GRAITEC's leaders and that Seventu was also the right partner for GRAITEC, meaning the capacity to support its international development, its build-up strategy, its digitalization, and its ESG strategy. So, a real need there to change scale, the right moment had come, coinciding with the founder's exit.
M
Manuel Liedot3:40
Well, it coincided partly with the founder's exit, so indeed there was a succession issue, and since I have been fully responsible since Seventu's arrival, and also the change in scale, we were a rather European company, we made a big acquisition in the United States last year together, and now 50% of our business is in North America, 50% in Europe. So we're a French company, but less than 10% of our revenue is in France. A transformation of the company.
I
Interviewer4:16
So you invest in GRAITEC, of course. You won't tell me at what level, but you'll tell me if you are minority or majority shareholders, as in all your operations. But there is also this advisory activity where you work together on the company's strategy.
M
Manuel Liedot4:24
Well, the strategy is still proposed by the leader, and it's the shareholders, and so Seventu challenges and helps to implement it, and sometimes has it evolve a little. I think we often see private equity as financial engineering, but for me, it's above all a governance model. And so we know that for the company to develop, we need to set up good governance, a good interaction, a good relationship between shareholders and the leader, each in their role. The leader leads, proposes, takes the company forward. We bring advice, our experience, we challenge, and then together we move forward. That's the idea.
We meet very regularly, and it's true that I run the company daily, I make strategic decisions, and for decisions that are quite engaging and sometimes a bit difficult to take, I have a sparring partner, I have advice, I have expertise from people who have seen many situations through their participation. So for me, it's very comfortable to have the advice and counsel before moving forward.
I
Interviewer5:40
Does that allow, or has it allowed you, with the arrival of the investment fund, to complement your offering?
M
Manuel Liedot5:47
To complement our offering, exactly, and to accelerate significantly. One of the first projects we did together was really a company reorganization and work on the operational model around our two activities, as I mentioned: software publishing and this partnership activity with Autodesk, which is a leader in this sector. And how to reconcile these two activities, how to organize the sales forces, how to remunerate the salespeople to make these two activities work best and in synergy. So that's a job we did together at the start, and which has allowed, among other things, the strong growth we've had since we've been working together.
I
Interviewer6:31
There are plenty of goals, and notably to become the world leader in software publishing in your domain.
M
Manuel Liedot6:40
In our domain, and to be the first, a leading partner for this American partner, which is the leading platform in our sector, and it's very promising as a partnership.
I
Interviewer6:53
Thank you very much both for coming to the Smart Capital set. Thank you very much.
M
Manuel Liedot6:56
Thank you very much.