Investor Relations
Smartemis is Europe’s fastest-growing community of independent veterinary clinics. Empowering clinician entrepreneurship across France and Germany.
Borrowing a page from private equity, Smartemis partners with entrepreneurial veterinarians and then provides them with the resources they need to fulfill their potential. The result? A partnership-driven, win-win approach that preserves veterinary independence while driving superior financial returns — for clinic owners, their successors, and investors.
“When I first heard about Smartemis, it resonated with me for several reasons. The first is that I’m getting older and, like everyone else, I’m thinking about eventually selling my practice. The two main reasons are the ability to maintain professional independence and the people I’ve met. It really comes down to the human connection and the adventure the experience offers.”
“We joined Smartemis because it offers support in exactly the areas that are hard to manage on your own — technology, HR, finance, and practice structure.”
“In our five-partner practice, achieving three key goals — maintaining independence, ensuring business succession and longevity, and maximizing the practice’s value — seemed like a tall order. The traditional networks that approached us didn’t meet all our criteria. Smartemis does!”
“With Smartemis I can stay independent — a classic private-equity chain would not be an option for me.”
“The Smartemis proposal was clearly the best for us: it offered a way to ensure the clinic’s continuity ahead of my partner’s planned departure in two years and maintain full independence in day-to-day management, all while benefiting from the support of Smartemis teams and networking with other community members.”
“I trust specialists. I’m a specialist in veterinary medicine — that’s why patients come to me. But marketing and communication aren’t our strengths. That’s exactly why I trust the experts at Smartemis.”
“Increasingly disillusioned by the corporate veterinary groups, we found Smartemis offered a compelling concept: balancing fair valuation of our clinic with the preservation of our independence, while gaining access to the support that is becoming essential for the clinic’s daily management. Ultimately, Smartemis is a community united by a shared ethic and a vision of professional camaraderie that preserves the integrity of our profession.”
“They didn’t want to take anything away from me. They wanted to help me preserve what I had built.”
“Smartemis is, first and foremost, a network of independent veterinarians who retain their autonomy while benefiting from a collective framework, support, and shared experience. It’s a model that ensures you aren’t on your own, yet allows you to maintain your independence. Above all, it’s driven by a genuine spirit of sharing and collective progress, where everyone contributes something… and walks away with even more.”
“It is an enormous relief to know you no longer carry the burden alone. You can breathe again. And lead again.”
“When I first heard about Smartemis, it resonated with me for several reasons. The first is that I’m getting older and, like everyone else, I’m thinking about eventually selling my practice. The two main reasons are the ability to maintain professional independence and the people I’ve met. It really comes down to the human connection and the adventure the experience offers.”
“We joined Smartemis because it offers support in exactly the areas that are hard to manage on your own — technology, HR, finance, and practice structure.”
“In our five-partner practice, achieving three key goals — maintaining independence, ensuring business succession and longevity, and maximizing the practice’s value — seemed like a tall order. The traditional networks that approached us didn’t meet all our criteria. Smartemis does!”
“With Smartemis I can stay independent — a classic private-equity chain would not be an option for me.”
“The Smartemis proposal was clearly the best for us: it offered a way to ensure the clinic’s continuity ahead of my partner’s planned departure in two years and maintain full independence in day-to-day management, all while benefiting from the support of Smartemis teams and networking with other community members.”
“I trust specialists. I’m a specialist in veterinary medicine — that’s why patients come to me. But marketing and communication aren’t our strengths. That’s exactly why I trust the experts at Smartemis.”
“Increasingly disillusioned by the corporate veterinary groups, we found Smartemis offered a compelling concept: balancing fair valuation of our clinic with the preservation of our independence, while gaining access to the support that is becoming essential for the clinic’s daily management. Ultimately, Smartemis is a community united by a shared ethic and a vision of professional camaraderie that preserves the integrity of our profession.”
“They didn’t want to take anything away from me. They wanted to help me preserve what I had built.”
“Smartemis is, first and foremost, a network of independent veterinarians who retain their autonomy while benefiting from a collective framework, support, and shared experience. It’s a model that ensures you aren’t on your own, yet allows you to maintain your independence. Above all, it’s driven by a genuine spirit of sharing and collective progress, where everyone contributes something… and walks away with even more.”
“It is an enormous relief to know you no longer carry the burden alone. You can breathe again. And lead again.”
The Model
As market consolidation progresses and add-on multiples climb, reliably achieving desired return on investment targets has become more and more challenging for investors. Loss of control and pressure to drive financial performance improvement — often without a direct interest in the result — leads to a loss of veterinarian productivity as often as improvement.
Veterinarians are clearly enthusiastic about having an alternative to the traditional options of going it alone or selling out — making Smartemis the fastest-growing independent veterinary community in Europe.
Our Community
Smartemis exists to give veterinarians a way to realize the financial value of their clinics without giving up control or sacrificing their pride of ownership. We believe veterinary clinics are best run by veterinarians working in their own clinics — not by big corporations which cannot possibly know or manage all of the day-to-day opportunities.
Bill Hughson Founder & CEO, Smartemis
Our Vets
A Smartemis vet
A buy-and-build vet
Clinic outcome — Revenue growth
A clinic that grew revenue by 18% through billing optimization — without raising prices or adding patients.
— Network average, Year 1 · Read the clinic story →
Clinic outcome — Resilience
When a co-owner departed, shared HR and operational support meant the clinic grew rather than contracted.
— Year following ownership transition · Read the clinic story →
Clinic outcome — Scale efficiency
Community expertise on a software migration saved one clinic €50,000. Multiplied across the community, this is what shared infrastructure means.
— One-time cost avoidance · Read the clinic story →
Veterinarian Perspective
The voices of the clinic owners the network was built for — in their own words.
In our five-partner practice, achieving three key goals — maintaining independence, ensuring business succession and longevity, and maximizing the practice’s value — seemed like a tall order. The traditional networks that approached us didn’t meet all our criteria. The Smartemis model aligns best with our vision for the profession: we will remain independent, realize the value of 40 years of hard work, and — thanks to the services Smartemis offers — drive our business forward. The planned succession strategies will ensure the clinic’s long-term viability, as the model facilitates the integration of young veterinarians.
Smartemis’s proposal was unmatched in our situation: it offered a way to ensure the clinic’s continuity ahead of my partner’s planned departure in two years and maintain full independence in day-to-day management, all while benefiting from the support of Smartemis teams and networking with other members. Constructive discussions with the Smartemis team ultimately convinced us to join the network.
Increasingly disillusioned by the profit-driven drift of corporate veterinary groups, we found Smartemis offered a compelling concept: balancing fair valuation of our client base with the preservation of our independence, while gaining access to the support that is becoming essential for the clinic’s daily management. Smartemis represents a highly acceptable compromise between bringing in outside investors and preserving our independence — a balance that I am convinced will be our greatest strength in the future. Ultimately, Smartemis is a community united by a shared ethic and a vision of professional camaraderie that preserves the integrity of our profession.
How it Works
Each service is the mechanism behind a clinic outcome. This answers: what does the fee revenue actually buy — and does it work?
01
PMS optimization, billing efficiency, operational process improvement.
02
Talent acquisition, team building, ownership transition support.
03
Valuation, financial structure, tax optimization, exit planning.
04
Ownership transitions, expansion support, restructuring guidance.
05
Local visibility, patient communication, digital presence.
06
Collective purchasing — medications, consumables, equipment across the community.
Governance
Clinical excellence, animal welfare, and the interests of practicing vets sit at the heart of every strategic decision. This is not symbolic governance — it is structural.
“The governance structure is what convinced me. Vets have a genuine seat at the table here — not a symbolic one. When we vote, it counts.”
Dr Marcus Stieger — Veterinarian & Clinic Owner
Get in Touch
For investors, institutional partners, prospective country partners, and media inquiries.
