Skoyen buys Smovin to expand property software in Europe

Skoyen Software has acquired property management software company Smovin in its first investment of the year.

Founded in Belgium in 2017, Smovin sells software that helps landlords and property managers handle recurring rental administration tasks such as tracking payments and indexing rents. Skoyen is a European investment firm focused on B2B software companies.

The acquisition gives Smovin a new owner as it looks to expand beyond its home market. Its software is used across residential and commercial property portfolios, and the company has built a customer base in a sector where many administrative processes still rely on manual work or spreadsheets.

Smovin has positioned its platform as a central operating system for day-to-day property management. Customers use it to automate workflows, reduce manual administration and lower the risk of lost rental income, according to the companies.

The business said one example of the time savings comes from smaller portfolio operators: for a portfolio of 80 units, its software can save about 300 hours a year.

The transaction fits Skoyen's approach of acquiring and backing software businesses for the long term. The firm was founded by Nic Humphries, Executive Chairman of Hg, and Paul Birks, and invests permanent capital in European B2B software companies.

The ownership change is intended to give Smovin long-term stability while leaving day-to-day operations with its existing leadership team. Grégoire de Donnea will remain chief executive officer.

Growth plans

Smovin said it has spent the past four years reshaping the business into a profitable and scalable software company. Under its new owner, it plans to focus on international expansion, product development, and wider use of automation and artificial intelligence in its software.

Skoyen plans to strengthen Smovin's sales operation and support product development as the business grows across Europe. It described Smovin as the leading provider in Belgium and said it sees further room for digital adoption in property management.

The sector remains fragmented, with many landlords and managers still relying on offline processes for rent collection, reporting and portfolio administration. That has attracted growing interest from software providers seeking to digitise back-office property operations.

In comments accompanying the deal, both sides said expansion across Europe was a central aim of the partnership. They also said they wanted to preserve Smovin's existing culture as the company grows.

"We are absolutely delighted to be partnering with Grégoire and the entire Smovin team. From our very first conversations, it was clear that we share the same values and the same long-term, people-first ethos. Smovin has established itself as the leading provider in Belgium, with an outstanding product, a loyal customer base, and a team that has built something truly impressive. Our ambition now is to work closely with Grégoire and his team to build on those strong foundations, supporting them with resources, best practices, and access to our network and growing ecosystem, as we look to scale the business together for the long term," said Paul Birks, Co-founder of Skoyen Software.

De Donnea said the business was entering a new stage after a period of internal change.

"Smovin has already gone through a deep transformation over the past four years resulting in a profitable and scalable SaaS platform with strong fundamentals. The next step is sustainable growth: expanding internationally, strengthening our product moat through automation and AI, and building a broader European proptech platform. We chose Skoyen Software because they combine long-term capital, deep SaaS expertise, and a partnership mindset aligned with how we want to build the future of the company," he said.