Can Odoo become one of the last global giants in business software?

Odoo founder and chief executive Fabien Pinckaers has put Belgium’s most valuable private technology company on course for a much larger contest, telling De Morgen on 14 August that he expects only two or three major business-software providers to remain and wants Odoo among them. The quantified starting point is substantial: Odoo recorded €426 million in revenue in 2024, according to figures cited by Forbes, and the company projected €650 million in 2025 billings, about 53% above that earlier revenue baseline, although revenue and billings are not directly interchangeable accounting measures.

The declaration is less a fresh financial transaction than a statement of strategy. Odoo, registered in Belgium under enterprise number 0477.472.701, develops an integrated collection of applications for accounting, sales, customer management, inventory, manufacturing, human resources and e-commerce. Its core proposition is that a smaller company can run many functions through one platform instead of assembling separate products from several suppliers.

Pinckaers believes that breadth gives Odoo a place in a market traditionally associated with SAP, Oracle and Microsoft, while newer cloud specialists compete in individual categories. His consolidation forecast should nevertheless be understood as the view of an interested chief executive, not an established market prediction. Business software remains fragmented by company size, industry, language, regulation and geography; a restaurant, a manufacturer and a multinational bank do not necessarily buy comparable systems.

Odoo’s recent expansion explains the confidence. In September 2025, the company said it expected €650 million in billings for that year, annual recurring revenue growth of 42% and nearly 7,000 employees. It also set a target of €1 billion in billings by 2027 and 10,000 employees in 2026. Those figures came from Odoo itself and have not all been independently audited in public, while the company’s reported valuation is based on transactions in a privately held business rather than a continuously traded share price.

The valuation has nonetheless risen sharply. A €500 million secondary share transaction announced in November 2024 valued Odoo at €5 billion, up from earlier investment rounds involving Summit Partners and General Atlantic. Belgium’s State of Belgian Tech Report subsequently recorded a shareholder transaction that valued the company at about €7 billion in 2025. Later media estimates have put it higher, but differing dates, currencies and transaction structures make them difficult to compare cleanly. No initial public offering has been announced.

For customers, the contest matters in practical rather than celebratory terms. A Belgian shop, consultancy or manufacturer choosing an enterprise platform is making a decision that can affect invoices, payroll data, stock control and customer records for years. A broad suite can reduce duplicate data entry and the number of software subscriptions, but migration, configuration, training and dependence on one supplier can create costs of their own. The cheapest licence is not necessarily the cheapest system once implementation and support are included.

Belgium’s mandatory structured business-to-business electronic invoicing rules have made that calculation more immediate. Since 1 January 2026, Belgian VAT-liable businesses covered by the mandate have had to exchange structured invoices through compatible systems; an emailed PDF alone is no longer sufficient. The European Commission

Organisation

European Commission

EU institution providing the cited Belgium e-invoicing country sheet.

Why it matters

EU institution providing the cited Belgium e-invoicing country sheet.

About

The European Commission (EC) is the executive cabinet of the European Union. It is composed of 27 members of the Commission corresponding to the number of member states, unless the European Council, by unanimous consent, decides to alter this number.

Official site ↗View source record ↗

That creates an opening for Odoo, but it also raises the standard it must meet. An invoicing or payroll failure is not an abstract software inconvenience: it can delay payment to a small supplier, complicate a VAT return or leave an employer correcting wage records. Customers need reliable updates, data portability, cybersecurity and access to qualified implementation partners. Belgian accountants and technology consultants will be particularly influential because many small businesses rely on them when selecting compliant software.

The broader story is about the changing structure of enterprise technology. Cloud delivery allows one code base to serve customers across borders, while artificial intelligence is being embedded into accounting, sales and administrative tasks. These forces favour scale because large providers can spread development and compliance costs over many users. They can also increase concentration, leaving businesses with fewer meaningful alternatives and making interoperability and switching rights more important.

Odoo’s open-source foundation distinguishes it from fully proprietary suites, although its present model combines a community edition with paid enterprise services. Supporters see that structure as a route to flexibility and faster adaptation. Customers and independent integrators may take a more cautious view, asking how much practical freedom remains once a company depends on hosted services, proprietary modules or a heavily customised installation.

For Belgium, Odoo is unusually important because the country has produced strong research institutions such as imec and several specialist technology firms, but few home-grown software companies operating at this scale. Its headquarters and legal base in Walloon Brabant

Place

Walloon Brabant

Belgian province where Odoo is headquartered.

Why it matters

Belgian province where Odoo is headquartered.

About

Walloon Brabant is a province located in Belgium's French-speaking region of Wallonia. It borders on the province of Flemish Brabant and the provinces of Liège, Namur and Hainaut. Walloon Brabant's capital is Wavre; however, the municipality of Braine-l'Alleud is slightly more populous.

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The next evidence will come from completed financial results rather than forecasts. Investors, employees and customers will be watching whether Odoo reaches its €1 billion billings target, whether recruitment keeps pace without weakening service quality, and whether product expansion improves the integrated suite or makes it harder to manage. Pinckaers has clearly stated the destination. What remains unknown is whether business software really consolidates as tightly as he expects—and whether Odoo can preserve affordability, reliability and customer choice while trying to become one of its dominant platforms.