European private equity investor Oakley Capital acquired a majority stake in Graphwise, a company formed in 2024 through the merger of Bulgarian Ontotext and Austrian Semantic Web Company. According to the companies, the deal marks one of the biggest exits in the Bulgarian software industry, although the financial terms have not been disclosed.
Graphwise is an enterprise AI and data platform specializing in knowledge graphs and semantic layer technology. It provides data infrastructure for AI and serves more than 200 international blue-chip clients across the financial services, pharmaceutical, and public sectors.
Graphwise was formed in 2024 through the merger of Ontotext and Semantic Web Company. Ontotext was founded in Sofia in 2000, while Semantic Web Company was established in Vienna in 2004.
Teodora Atanasova
Budapest-based Portfolion invested in Ontotext as part of a consortium led by Integral Capital Group, alongside Carpathian Partners. The European Investment Fund and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development also co-invested in the company.
The investors later pursued a buy-and-build strategy, which led to the 2024 merger with Semantic Web Company.
“This transaction is clear proof that domestic and regional private equity can achieve breakthrough successes in a globally competitive deep tech market,” said Jenő Nieder, Deputy CEO and Partner at Portfolion Capital Partners.
“Through the international buy-and-build strategy implemented together with Integral Capital Group and Carpathian Partners, we successfully built an internationally dominant platform out of two regional pioneers, avoiding short-term AI hypes and creating genuine, commercially sustainable value.”
Following the acquisition, Graphwise plans to accelerate its international expansion and pursue further acquisitions.
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