Thursday 18. December 2025
Longship Fund II exits The Cloud People to NTT DATA Business Solutions
Longship Fund II has, as of 18 December 2025, divested its ownership in The Cloud People Group AS (“The Cloud People”) to NTT DATA Business Solutions, part of NTT DATA, a global leader in AI, digital business and technology services. Longship and the other financial shareholders are selling all their shares in the transaction, while The Cloud People’ management team will continue as shareholders alongside the new majority owner.
Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Oslo, The Cloud People has rapidly grown into one of Europe’s leading pure-play ServiceNow partners, serving mid- to large-sized enterprises with end-to-end ServiceNow transformations.
Since partnering with the company in 2021, Longship has supported The Cloud People in executing an ambitious value-creation plan to build a scaled, high-quality ServiceNow platform. Over the ownership period, The Cloud People expanded from mainly a Norwegian–Finnish consultancy into a pan-European leader through a combination of strong organic growth and five add-on acquisitions, including entry into the strategically important German market. The group has established global capability centres for near- and off-shoring, built out a 24/5 application management service offering, and developed a large base of certified ServiceNow specialists. Revenues have increased more than sixfold over the period, underpinning The Cloud People’ position as an Elite-status ServiceNow partner with a blue-chip customer base.
“Together with the management team, we have built The Cloud People from a promising Nordic specialist into a leading European pure-play ServiceNow services provider,” said Espen Stenumgård at Longship. “The company’s scale, strong culture and differentiated delivery model have made it an attractive strategic fit for NTT DATA Business Solutions. We are proud of what has been achieved and believe this transaction positions The Cloud People for a strong next phase of growth.”
“Longship has been an important partner in helping us scale internationally and strengthen our ServiceNow capabilities,” said Bjørn Rasch Jarl, CEO of The Cloud People. “Joining forces with NTT DATA Business Solutions gives us the industrial platform and long-term support to accelerate our ambitions, while continuing to operate under The Cloud People brand and culture.”
Technology Holdings acted as M&A advisor and Wiersholm as legal advisor to Longship in the transaction.
For more information, please contact:
Espen Stenumgård, Partner, Longship
+47 992 44 678
espen.stenumgard@longship.no
Bjørn Rasch Jarl, CEO, The Cloud People
+47 908 52 875
bjorn.jarl@thecloudpeople.com
About Longship
Longship is a Norwegian private equity investor established in 2015. Longship invests in companies with significant growth potential in the Norwegian lower mid-market, and is applying a transformational growth approach, organically and through M&A. Longship pursue a thematic investment strategy, supporting long-term sustainable businesses within Technology Adoption, Sustainability, Quality of Life, and Resilient Societies. The investment team consists of fourteen professionals, making Longship the leading player in the Norwegian lower mid-market. Longship manages three buyout funds and has approximately NOK 5.2 billion of assets under management.
About The Cloud People
The Cloud People is a pure-play ServiceNow services provider headquartered in Oslo, Norway. The company delivers advisory, implementation and managed services to enterprise customers, supported by a large, highly certified ServiceNow specialist organization and near- and off-shoring delivery centres.