Cegid, an AI-driven European leader in cloud business management software for small and medium-sized businesses and accounting professionals, and Silae, France's leading payroll and human resources platform, today announced their intention to merge. The combination will create a national technology champion and the leading European technology platform for businesses and their partners, helping them grow safely and efficiently with the support of a fully integrated and compliant suite covering their end-to-end financial and administrative needs.
Cegid and Silae announce merger to create European AI-driven business technology leader
Combined group valued at more than €10 billion enterprise value
Power 2 million end-customers and 15,000+ chartered accountancy firms
Produce 13+ million payslips across Europe every month
Christian Pedersen appointed CEO of Cegid to lead combined group
Expected to close in first half of 2027
With deep roots in Lyon and Aix-en-Provence, Cegid and Silae will bring together highly complementary expertise across leading product portfolios and technology solutions. Native integration between Cegid's accounting and tax production tools, Shine's banking and digital finance capabilities and Silae's payroll and HR platform will enable the group to connect key data, automate processes and streamline interactions between businesses and their partners, chartered public accountants and value-added resellers.
The combined platform will deliver value to customers, for example, by unlocking deep product integration between payroll and CPA accounting software, activating Shine solutions via the mySilae platform, and supporting the development of advanced treasury cash management and forecasting tools.
Together, the offering gives small business owners and the professional partners who support them simple, smarter, AI-powered tools to manage and collaboratively grow their companies in a trusted, compliant and fully integrated end-to-end platform, efficiently automating all finance and administrative back-office tasks through state-of-the-art technology and innovation. The combined group will be one of the leading channels for bringing AI into Europe's small businesses as well as a key partner in helping French SMBs through the e-invoicing reform that entered into force this month, ahead of its more demanding 2027 phase.
By combining forces, the two companies will be able to scale up their investment in research and development even further — at a critical time in the technology industry given the emergence of AI — and assemble one of the largest developer teams in Europe (1,400 strong) to build tomorrow's leading-edge products for business customers.
"This combination is an exciting milestone. It marks the successful culmination of a decade-long journey we've been on first with Cegid and later with Silae, as well as the start of an even more exciting one. Together, Cegid and Silae can offer a unique end-to-end suite of software and AI-powered products serving the SMBs and their professional advisors who are the dynamic heart and soul of the European economy," said Christian Lucas, Chairman of Cegid and Silae, and Managing Partner at Silver Lake.
"I am delighted to join this ambitious project. Together as one integrated European platform, we can accelerate innovation and unlock the full potential of AI for customers across interconnected accounting, payment, payroll and HR data. My focus will be to continue turning this vision into truly differentiated, highly value-add solutions for businesses, chartered accountants, and their clients," said Christian Pedersen, Chief Executive Officer of Cegid.
"For fifteen years, Silae has focused on making payroll and HR straightforward, compliant and reliable for our partners and clients. The real value of this merger lies in the product integration: connecting payroll and HR natively with accounting, e-invoicing, digital finance and payments, so that firms and the businesses they serve work on a single platform with data flowing seamlessly across it while preserving the central role of accountants in their relationships with clients," said Pierre Cesarini, who will continue to lead Silae in the planned combined group.
In accordance with applicable regulations, the planned merger remains subject to prior consultation with employee representative bodies and approval by the relevant regulatory authorities. Subject to completion of these steps, the transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2027.
About Cegid
The Cegid Group is a European leader in cloud management solutions founded in Lyon in 1983, historically supporting accountants, professionals in Finance (treasury, tax, ERP) and Retail. Under the Shine brand, the Group serves very small businesses and self-employed professionals by providing business accounts, invoicing, accounting and payroll. Built on a fully cloud-based business model, the Group is committed to long-term relationships with its clients and supports their digitalization, delivering a distinctive experience tailored to their needs, in France and internationally. It combines a forward-looking and pragmatic understanding of business functions, strong innovation capabilities, the integration of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and unique expertise in the regulatory environment.
About Silae
Silae is a French software provider specialising in payroll and human resources management for the past 15 years. Its mission is to design digital solutions that incorporate regulatory compliance requirements and facilitate companies' human resources management. Today, Silae serves more than 6,000 partners (accounting firms and HR solutions integrators) and generates over 8 million payslips per month for nearly one million businesses in France. Silae has become a major HR player in France, with a clear ambition: to become Europe's leading HR platform.
