Deeper roots: inside Software Combined’s bet on Dutch niche software
Three Dutch acquisitions in twelve months. A larger Amsterdam base. And one number that explains the strategy: 85%.
softwarecombined.com | June 2026
In the past twelve months, Software Combined has acquired three Dutch B2B software businesses: WCC Group, Res2, and Unified Streaming. Together they bring [X] employees and clients across [X] countries into a portfolio that now spans 13 companies and 480 people across Australia, New Zealand, and the Benelux.
Last month, the company’s co-founders gathered in Amsterdam with the CEOs and leaders of the three businesses to mark the moment. A ribbon was cut. Logos went up on the wall of a new, larger office at De Weesper located at the Weesperstraat. Then, because this is Amsterdam, they took a boat on the canal.
Software Combined is an Australian company founded by three Dutch entrepreneurs: Evert den Hollander, Stefan Jansen, and Niek Hoogenhout. They set up in Amsterdam two years ago. What has changed is scale: the new office at De Weesper is a working base for a local team led by Teun van der Kamp and Ralph Vriens, a hub for three portfolio companies operating in the region, and the base for a strategy that runs across the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
“We set up in Amsterdam two years ago. Three businesses joined the portfolio. Now we have a larger base, a team on the ground, and a long list of people in this region we are still looking forward to meeting.”
Evert den Hollander, CEO & Co-founder
Three very different companies. The same question behind each one: what happens to what we’ve built?
WCC Group has spent nearly three decades building workforce-matching technology trusted by governments and global enterprises across 20 countries, including Malaysia’s national jobs portal and Robert Half’s global candidate search platform.
Res2’s iPort platform handles departure control and weight and balance for more than 140 airline and ground handler clients across 500 airports and over 60 million passengers a year — operational failure is not an option.
Unified Streaming, built in Amsterdam, powers video delivery for BBC, HBO, Viaplay, and Foxtel.
“Software Combined understands what it takes to build deep expertise in a niche, and what it costs to protect it. Our culture isn’t just preserved here. We’re backed to grow it further.”
Dirk Griffioen, CEO, Unified Streaming
Each of the three businesses shares something: deeply specialist, profitable, and mission-driven.
What happens after
Software Combined does not consolidate, rebrand, or relocate the businesses it acquires. Portfolio companies run under their own leadership, their own brand, and their own product direction — focusing on achieving their mission.
The backing is real: capital for growth, a network across 13 companies, and co-founders who are there at every step — not a board meeting and a quarterly review. The leadership, the culture, and the product direction stay with the people who built them.
“What we’re actually doing is continuing the business’s mission which is set by the founder. People have joined that founder and that mission. Eighty-five percent of the value of our businesses are in people. You cannot put the people and the culture they bring on a balance sheet, but every founder who built it knows exactly what it’s worth.”
Evert den Hollander, CEO & Co-founder
The Benelux is a broker-led market. Dutch founders evaluating acquirers typically have options, including roll-up plays and PE-backed consolidators that promise growth through integration and consolidation. Software Combined’s answer to that is deliberate: continue the mission, protect the culture, and stay to grow. Businesses that join the portfolio keep their leadership, their brand, and permanent capital behind them.
“Software Combined is not a traditional investor. They are building a permanent home for businesses that have found their niche. That is exactly what we were looking for.”
Jan Jensen, CEO, WCC Group
“Res2 has spent decades building mission-critical infrastructure for the aviation industry. Joining Software Combined means we can keep developing that expertise, with permanent capital behind us and no pressure to change course.”
[Name], CEO, Res2
“We tend to connect best with founders who genuinely care about what happens to their customers, their product, and most importantly their team. When you decide to move on, what happens next matters.”
Stefan Jansen, Chief Revenue Officer & Co-founder, Software Combined
Every founder who has been through this process has the same fears: the team, the culture, what happens to the business they spent years building. Those are the right questions. They are exactly what Software Combined is here to answer.
Software Combined is a permanent home for profitable B2B software businesses across Australia, New Zealand, and the Benelux. If you’re a founder thinking about what comes next for your business, tell us about it.