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Image credits: Prepr

Prepr, a Utrecht-based startup that offers headless CMS with a built-in personalisation engine, announced that it has raised €2.25M in a pre-Series A round led by Amsterdam-based Newion in cooperation with ROM Utrecht Region.

Fund utilisation

Jouko Huismans, CEO at Prepr, in an exclusive conversation with Silicon Canals says, “Prepr now has a solid base in its home market of the Netherlands and surrounding countries. With this investment, Prepr wants to accelerate its growth in the rest of Europe in the next two years.”

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The company also plans to use a part of the funding to expand and strengthen the team. “We are specifically looking for a marketing lead, sales lead, and customer success leads with experience in B2B SAAS,” he adds. 

At present, Prepr employs around 20 people from Utrecht. 

How did it all start?

When working in journalism, web developer Tim Hanssen (founder and CTO) noticed that media organisations often struggle to publish media for multiple channels. Tim and three co-developers created a CMS designed for multichannel publishing, tailored to the needs of media brands and broadcasters. 

Huismans says, “This CMS was the predecessor of what we now know as Prepr. Media organisations noticed that their issue of using too many and too complicated systems could be resolved by using our first multi-channel CMS.”

As the technology evolved, Tim decided to get experienced team members on board, including CEO Jouko Huismans. 

“Together, we decided to implement cutting-edge technology into the core of our CMS and bring it to the next level. The implementation of Graph technology made it possible to support more content at once. This answered the needs of content-driven companies around the globe,” he adds. 

He continues, “During the years, we learned the importance of data when it comes to content. To help our customers make an impact with their blogs, vlogs, and stories, we added a Neo4j graph database to the core of our CMS. This allows companies to create highly personalised customer experiences, skyrocketing Prepr as the ideal CMS for content-driven companies.”

Challenges

Founded in 2016, Prepr was started as a user-friendly CMS for media organisations, and eventually matured into a smart solution. However, the journey was not easy. 

Talking about the initial challenges, Huismans says, “Our vision has always been that the future of content management is data-driven. We believe in the power of combining content and data to create more impact. But combining content and data in one system proved not to be easy.”

According to Huismans, traditional relational databases are not suitable for processing big data in real time. As a result, they switched to a graph database, since it stores not only the data but also the relationships between the data. 

“The graph database is at the heart of Prepr, making it unique compared to other headless CMSes. We believe the next generation of headless CMSs will be data-driven. It gives you a strategic advantage. Because, with Prepr, you can manage and publish your digital content and personalise it at scale. All with just one system,” he adds.

Business model 

Prepr, with its headless CMS, enables businesses to maximise the impact of their content. Not only by creating, managing, and publishing content, but also by being data-driven. The all-in-one solution allows businesses to create exceptional customer experiences that engage and convert.

Since Prepr is a B2B SaaS company, the revenue for the company comes entirely from subscriptions purchased by companies. At present, the company offers four plans – Developer (€0/m), Start (€399/m), Grow (€899/m), and Enterprise (tailored to needs). 

“We also support clients with professional services where we advise on data-driven content management, content modeling, connecting frontend apps, and integrating Prepr into a digital platform,” Huismans says. 

Growth and revenue

Over the past few years, the Dutch company has been growing at about 20 per cent without any external funding. 

“Many businesses switch to Prepr because their current CMS is no longer adequate,” Huismans says.

Last year, IAmsterdam chose Prepr to manage and personalise its website content. Others, including BNNVARA and Fantastic Services, also chose the platform to personalise the content for more engagement.

Huismans says, “They want an agile CMS that allows them to innovate quickly. In addition, many companies desire to personalise the customer experience to meet high customer demands. Our customers use Prepr to solve their content management and personalisation problems with one system.”

In terms of revenue projections, Huismans says, “For this financial year, we expect a growth of 60 per cent. For the next year, we expect revenue growth of 100 per cent.”

Investor

Based out of Amsterdam, Newion is a venture capital firm, focused on early-stage investments in European B2B software companies with a global ambition. The company has invested in 70+ companies to date. 

Commenting on the investment, Patrick Polak, Managing Partner at Newion, says “Currently the CMS market is booming and pivoting towards headless systems. Prepr has a unique foundation, making it easy to deliver personalisation at scale while keeping the agile workflow of a headless CMS. We believe Prepr is well-prepared for market leadership, and we look forward to our joint journey to get there.”