Market consolidation and the journey of Yourhosting

Koen van Deudekom, General Manager Presence at Your.Online and former CEO of Yourhosting, shares his perspective on market consolidation and the evolution of Yourhosting. Strategic acquisitions and partnerships provide former business owners and entrepreneurs with flexibility, while best practice sharing and innovations from various segments continue to create long-term value.Key messagesMarket consolidation has led to economies of scale and specialization, strengthening competitive positioning.For entrepreneurs, every transaction offers choice through tailored deal structures, from full exit to staying involved and realizing future value.Shared expertise, best-practice sharing and value creation initiatives drive innovation and growth opportunities.Learnings from the Presence segment and Your.Online’s other areas such as Performance & Trust enhance market positioning.The story of YourhostingFew people have witnessed the evolution of the hosting landscape over the past decade as closely as Koen van Deudekom. In 2014, he was appointed CEO of Argeweb, which later became part of Yourhosting. More than ten years later, Koen was named General Manager of the Presence segment at Your.Online. Now, he reflects on his role as CEO of Yourhosting and the consolidation that has shaped the industry over the past decade.The first and second waveAccording to Koen, the wave of consolidation that began around 2014 was a logical step in the web hosting industry.Many entrepreneurs launched their businesses from their attics around the turn of the millennium and experienced remarkable growth in the following years. This was driven in part by the increasing availability of domain names for individuals and the rising demand for websites among businesses. After about 15 years, as the market became more saturated and growth began to slow down, these entrepreneurs faced a choice: should I continue to grow, innovate, and invest independently, or is it – given the growing importance of economies of scale – better to join forces with others?This same question still arises in conversations with entrepreneurs today, more than a decade after that initial consolidation wave. Many of them chose to continue independently back then, but now, roughly 25 years after they started, they are reconsidering their options.The European web hosting market has matured from a growth market into a more competitive, displacement-driven market. In most countries, the total market size has stabilized, and growth now primarily comes from pricing strategies or specialization. As a result, growth has become more expensive: increased marketing efforts, higher investments in product development, and rising vendor pricing have put pressure on margins.Defining best and bad practicesNo one has all the answers from the start, and Your.Online has also learned through experience what works – and what doesn’t – within the Presence segment. Reflecting on his experience within Yourhosting and from his current role as General Manager overseeing over ten companies in the Presence segment, Koen shares:There’s no single playbook that applies to every brand. We always start by carefully assessing the market position, customer proposition, strengths and legacy of each company. Together with the entrepreneur or managing director, we define what creates the most value – whether that means optimizing internal operations, unlocking growth potential, or preserving a stand-alone approach. For example, Loading in Spain became part of Axarnet – one of Your.Online’s Spanish platforms – but retained full autonomy and continues to grow independently. The same applies to o2switch in France, which continues to operate as a stand-alone business and has successfully accelerated its own strategic and growth trajectory. Regardless of the setup, we consistently share best practices learned across the group, tailored to each specific context.Nothing is mandatory, everything is possibleWhile Your.Online is often seen as a typical consolidator, the reality is more nuanced. As part of Your.World, Your.Online was founded by Strikwerda Investments, which follows a buy-and-hold-forever strategy. This offers entrepreneurs within the group far greater security and long-term opportunities. Koen explains:Within the Presence segment of Your.Online, we have seen all kinds of variations. Entrepreneurs benefit from an initial exit and then in most cases stay on for a second round of value creation. While many sellers choose to stay involved, we provide flexibility in our deal structuring to ensure the best fitting deal for all parties. This is only possible because we are in it for the long term and can provide absolute certainty that we won’t sell the business to a competitor or a short-term investor. Some early entrepreneurs, like Yourhosting founder Valentijn Borstlap, are still involved today – though in different roles. The same applies to Wido den Hollander. At the same time, some entrepreneurs choose a different path after five or ten years. I believe this flexibility is one of the unique aspects of our model: nothing is mandatory, everything is possible.Growing and innovating togetherAnother major benefit of the buy-and-hold-forever strategy is the retention and sharing of knowledge and best-practices within the group. All the expertise from the industry’s brightest minds is leveraged to create more online opportunities. Whether in technology, marketing, strategic positioning, pricing, cross-sell, or procurement, the group’s collective knowledge ensures consistent value creation.New trends and applications constantly emerge, and each brand addresses them in its own way. This allows us to understand exactly what works well and what doesn’t. By experimenting and innovating, we continue to uncover new sources of value in the market – despite the many changes of the past 25 years. Additionally, we leverage insights from Your.Online’s other segments such as Performance & Trust services to strengthen our approach.What unites us is a passion for online services and entrepreneurship. The possibilities are endless, and we believe we can realize them together. That shared mindset is what connects us.Let’s talk. We’re happy to share our insights and can show, in detail, what has worked for Yourhosting, Loading, o2switch, and many others – each a completely different success story within one group. Schedule a one-on-one meeting with Koen van Deudekom to explore best and bad practices.Within Your.Online, and specifically within the Presence segment, we have always been transparent about our experiences. There’s no secret playbook, and we are happy to share what we’ve learned. In many of the initial phone calls, it becomes clear within 10 minutes that it’s worth meeting in person. We share the same passion, and that makes these meetings enjoyable. Where it leads in the future isn’t important at the start. #J-18808-Ljbffr