The East Flemish web hosting company Team.blue has developed into one of the largest unlisted companies in Europe.

Team.blue, the company behind the web hosting provider Combell, has seen its market value rise to $4.8 billion. This is the result of a deal between its largest shareholders, writes De Tijd. Major shareholder Hg Capital, owner of Visma, is selling part of the share package to the Canadian pension fund CCPIB. Hg remains the largest shareholder.

Like so many great technology companies, Team.blue had humble beginnings. Founder Jonas Dhaenens started offering web hosting services for his father’s insurance office from his bedroom in 1999 at the age of 16. Over the years, his company Combell grew into a major international player, expanding across Europe.

In 2019, Hg Capital invested in Combell with an investment of 700 million euros. In the same year, the parent organization was renamed to its current name Team.blue after a merger with TransIP Group. The company’s value was estimated at one billion dollars at the time, making Team.blue the second Flemish “unicorn”.

On the way to 5 billion

Today, there seem to be no limits for Team.blue. The latest shareholder deal increases the company’s market value to 4.8 billion euros. This makes Team.blue one of the largest non-listed companies in Belgium, if not in Europe. Team.blue leaves companies like Odoo (3.75 billion euros) and the listed Umicore (4.6 billion) behind.

Team.blue’s total turnover is estimated at 750 million euros. Dhaenens is still the third largest shareholder in his company.