Smile and SensioLabs: the alliance of two market leaders in Open-Source

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SensioLabs is welcoming Smile as a majority shareholder in the company. Smile and SensioLabs share the same values and ambitions, which they have already demonstrated by jointly contributing to the founding of the Open-Source School and organising the Paris Open Source Summit. 

In addition to its extensive in-house talent, SensioLabs collaborates with a network of over 55 specialist partners for the Symfony framework and PHP, located in more than 20 countries. Over the years SensioLabs has developed unrivalled consultancy and training expertise to support the most ambitious of companies and projects, based on the PHP/Symfony Open-Source technologies. SensioLabs is also an incubator of tools and solutions to improve the day-to-day challenges faced by web developers. Proud creator of Symfony in 2005 and Blackfire in 2015, SensioLabs relies on 20 years of experience in digital and 13 years in Open-Source. The company aims to push forward the technological boundaries of PHP while generating the web innovations of the future. 

Symfony, a PHP Open-Source framework already downloaded more than 2 billion times, will also benefit from the alliance, yet without impacting its governance or independence. Dozens of major PHP projects are based on Symfony. Its global community consists of thousands of developers, including Smile, which is expanding its involvement through SensioLabs. 

Fabien Potencier, co-founder of SensioLabs, is delighted with this alliance: "SensioLabs has grown very rapidly thanks to the talent of its team and its powerful ecosystem. Now we need to break new ground by joining forces with a major operator that shares our values and recognises our expertise. A strong entrepreneurial and Open-Source culture is an integral part of Smile's DNA, which will help us to accelerate our development with great flexibility." 

Marc Palazon, Chairman of Smile, explains: "We take great pride in being able to support the ongoing success of SensioLabs. It is a company we already know very well, a real gem of a French company with unique expertise which has enjoyed strong growth year after year. We are also delighted to be able to enhance our contribution to the Symfony framework. It is an exceptional Open-Source project which has become a mainstay within the Open-Source community and for major digital projects." 

Through this new strategic alliance, Smile and SensioLabs will be accelerating and supplementing their respective growth. As a unifying force within the Open-Source ecosystem for the benefit of its clients, Smile will be offering SensioLabs its project know-how and will enhance its range of expertise in PHP and Symfony. Fabien Potencier and Grégory Pascal, co-founders of SensioLabs, will remain at the helm of the company. Smile intends to facilitate the growth of SensioLabs and enable it to expand internationally. 

About Smile 

With a presence in 7 countries, Smile is the European market leader in digital Open-Source (consultancy, integration and outsourcing). 

Each year, some 1,700 committed personnel contribute to many hundreds of strategic digital projects for large corporate clients in France and Europe, based on the most innovative of solutions and concepts. 

Fully proficient in the best products, components and Open-Source frameworks combined with an in-depth understanding of the major business challenges, Smile offers its clients the support they require at every stage of their digital transformation via four vertical offerings (Digital/E-business, Business Apps, Infrastructure and Embedded/IoT) and a complete range of integrated services (consultancy, digital agency, training, development & integration, maintenance and outsourcing). 

In 2017, Smile posted revenue of over 84 million euros. 

About SensioLabs 

SensioLabs is the creator of the Open-Source framework Symfony, which has become a global reference in web development. 

SensioLabs supports companies that have selected PHP and Symfony as the cornerstone of their development, with an offering encompassing consultancy, expertise, services, training and support tailored to enhance developers' effectiveness, to ensure the success of web application development projects and to support the creation of a competent technical team. 

SensioLabs operates in France, Germany and the USA, and in a further 20 countries through its extensive network of more than 55 certified and affiliated partners. A company recognised internationally for its innovations in its market, SensioLabs boasts over 100 employees and consultants. 

About Symfony 

Symfony SAS (a SensioLabs spin-off) is the company behind the PHP Open-Source Symfony project. It creates products and solutions that enhance and magnify the Symfony experience: SymfonyCloud, SymfonyInsight, SymfonyCasts, certification and conferences designed for its global community. 

About Eurazeo PME 

An investment company and subsidiary of Eurazeo, Eurazeo PME focuses on acquiring majority stakes in French SMEs with an enterprise value of up to €250m. A long-term professional shareholder, it offers its participations all of the financial, human and organisational resources they require to successfully transform for the long-term, helping the companies in its portfolio achieve sustainable and responsible growth. This formal commitment is deployed via its CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) policy. 

In 2017 Eurazeo PME posted consolidated revenue of €1.1 bn through its corporate growth activities, supporting 2RH, Dessange International, In’Tech Medical, Léon de Bruxelles, the MK Direct group, Orolia, Péters Surgical, Redspher, Smile and Vitaprotech. These companies enjoy a strong position in their respective markets and are led by experienced management teams.