Activity :
Business services, Tech & Digital
Customer :
Akao
Acquirer :
Sage
Advice :
Nathanaël Blanc, Guillaume Segonne
About Largillière Finance
With offices in Paris, Nantes, Brussels and Geneva, Largillière Finance is an independent investment bank dedicated to assisting managers and shareholders of small and medium-sized companies with their capital transactions: company sales and acquisitions, financing (capital and/or debt), financial engineering (valuation, etc.) and financial strategy.
Sales - 2026
Akao, a French expert in flow automation and digitalization, joins Sage, a leader in accounting, financial, HR, and payroll technologies for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This sale, advised by Largillière Finance, enables Sage to strengthen its position in a market profoundly transformed by the arrival of electronic invoicing in September 2026.
Akao is a long-standing partner of Sage as an Independent Software Vendor (ISV), serving more than 2,700 SMEs and mid-market companies and processing over 100,000 invoices per day. The Akao solution covers the entire invoicing lifecycle, from receiving and processing supplier invoices to issuing customer invoices. It enables companies to simplify and digitalize their operations, strengthen their internal controls, and improve their productivity and the visibility of their financial process by leveraging a comprehensive workflow engine and document management capabilities.
As technological innovations accelerate and the electronic invoicing reform draws closer, companies must reach a critical milestone in their digital transformation. Indeed, according to a recent study by Sage, only one in four SMEs feels ready to tackle these changes, despite the significant impact expected on their financial processes. Akao’s AI-based SaaS solution provides a concrete response to these challenges by combining accounting automation, document digitalization, digital archiving, compliance, and comprehensive process management—offering companies a reliable and fully digitalized environment to manage their invoicing flows.
"Millions of businesses in France are adapting to prepare for the electronic invoicing reform. By joining forces with Akao, Sage is uniquely positioned to support companies through this crucial transition, helping them to easily maintain compliance while reaching new levels of efficiency, traceability, and growth," says Arnaud Petit, Managing Director, Sage Southern Europe.
Arnaud Petit, Managing Director, Sage Southern Europe:
“Millions of businesses in France are adapting to prepare for the electronic invoicing reform. By joining forces with Akao, Sage is uniquely positioned to support companies through this crucial transition, helping them to easily maintain compliance while reaching new levels of efficiency, traceability, and growth”
Abdel Halitim, Founder and CEO of Akao:
“Our solution was designed to offer the most comprehensive integration for Sage 100 and Sage FRP 1000 on the market. This acquisition is the logical next step in that work, and the support of the Largillière Finance teams has enabled us to carry out this ambitious project while protecting the interests of the company and its employees. By joining Sage, we can accelerate innovation and offer fully connected automation solutions to even more businesses”
Nathanaël Blanc, Managing Director at Largillière Finance:
“This transaction illustrates our ability to support management teams in structuring transactions in the tech and AI sectors, which are at the core of our expertise. Akao’s full SaaS solution is ideally positioned for Sage customers as they transition toward electronic invoicing. This is the second successful sale we have completed with Sage within a year,
With more than 40 employees, a strong international presence and nearly 30 operations in 2024, Largillière Finance confirms its leader position in small and midcap in France.
Investment Bank: "Best growth dynamic": Golden Trophy 2025 Investment Bank: "Best M&A (small to mid) team": Special Mention 2025
Leading
Excellent
Highly Recommended
About Largillière Finance
With offices in Paris, Nantes, Brussels and Geneva, Largillière Finance is an independent investment bank dedicated to assisting managers and shareholders of small and medium-sized companies with their capital transactions: company sales and acquisitions, financing (capital and/or debt), financial engineering (valuation, etc.) and financial strategy.
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