On 22 October 2026, Visma announced it had raised its stake in pathway solutions from 33% to 78%, securing majority control of the Hamburg-based startup specialising in accounting automation for e-commerce (Dealroom, 22 October 2026). A full buyout of the remaining shares is planned for 2027.
Background: pathway solutions, two years to triple its client base
Founded in 2018 in Hamburg, pathway solutions automates accounting reconciliation between e-commerce platforms and German accounting systems. In practice, the platform connects Shopify, Stripe, Amazon and TikTok Shop to DATEV — the reference software used by German accounting firms. It targets two segments: e-commerce and SaaS companies, and the tax advisory firms that serve them.
Visma took an initial 33% stake in 2024. Since then, pathway solutions’ client base has more than tripled, reaching over 4,000 businesses and 1,000 tax advisory firms across Germany and Austria (Dealroom, 22 October 2026). Co-founders and co-CEOs Marco Feelisch and Ludwig Eisenblätter retain their positions, and the Hamburg headquarters remains in place.
What it means for businesses: German accounting consolidation accelerates
This deal is part of a rapid consolidation strategy Visma has been executing in the German accounting and tax software market for the past eighteen months. The Norwegian group, which reported €2.4 billion in revenue in 2023 and counts 1.9 million customers worldwide (Visma, press release September 2024), has made multiple acquisitions in Germany: Finmatics in April 2025, then milia.io and Taxy.io in August 2026. The logic is consistent: assembling a suite of solutions around the tax advisory firm, from pre-accounting to tax consultation and automated data entry.
For a CIO or CFO at an e-commerce SMB operating in Germany or Austria, the signal is clear: the market for accounting reconciliation tools is consolidating fast. pathway solutions — previously an independent startup connecting Shopify to DATEV — is now entering the orbit of a significant European software group. This may accelerate product development and strengthen confidence in the tool, but it also means a gradual integration into the Visma ecosystem, with the resulting standardisation effects.
Germany is the largest e-commerce market in Europe (Visma, press release September 2024). Visma’s cross-segment presence in pre-accounting (Finmatics), tax advisory (milia.io), AI tax assistant (Taxy.io) and now e-commerce automation (pathway solutions) maps out a coherent functional perimeter that would be difficult for any standalone player to replicate.
What to watch
The full buyout, announced for 2027, will mark pathway solutions’ final integration into the group. The central question for current customers will be the product roadmap beyond that milestone: whether connectors to non-Visma platforms (Shopify, Amazon, TikTok Shop) are maintained, how pricing evolves, and how the positioning towards DATEV tax firms in Germany develops. The response from direct competitors in this segment — including integrated accounting modules from marketplaces and reconciliation FinTechs — will also be worth monitoring in 2027.
For more on Visma’s European strategy, read our article Visma Acquires Dootax and Pag Util in Brazil: What It Signals for European ERPs and our analysis Visma Unites Inexchange, Maventa, mySupply and efacto into a European Peppol Champion. For an overview of Nordic software vendors active in Europe, see our guide to Nordic and Dutch ERPs.
