European M&A News: XING Buys Amiando For Up To €10.3 Million

Germany-based business social networking site XING is acquiring also Germany-based online event management and ticketing services company Amiando, we’ve just learned.

XING is paying 5.1 million euros initially, and an additional payment of up to 5.25 million euros will be made on March 31, 2013, provided various conditions are met (such as the current management team remaining within the company and the achievement of specific financial performance targets).

It’s likely not a stellar exit for Amiando – they’ve raised an undisclosed amount of financing over two rounds, from firms such as Wellington Partners and AdInvest and a host of angel investors like Stefan Glaenzer and Lukasz Gadowski.

FYI: XING was also a Wellington Partners portfolio company (they went public in late 2006).

Amiando currently has a staff of 35 – all of whom will retain their jobs – and says it has supported some 100,000 events in 2009 alone. It’s unclear how much revenue it was generating, as only part of its solutions are premium, paid services.

With the acquisition, XING aims to offer its 10 million+ members integrated business event services, ranging from organization to marketing, billing and execution. According to the press release, their users have organized and promoted roughly 150,000 events via the XING platform last year, so it is a straightforward strategic deal for them.

Amiando founder and CEO Felix Haas will continue in his current position.

(Full disclosure: I’m a small investor in Oxynade / MyUpcoming, which competes with Amiando to a degree).