Tag Archives: Information technology

Speechmatics wins the Scale-up Award at Barclays’ High Growth and Entrepreneurs National Awards

IQ Capital

Speecmatics, based at Cambridge Science Park, has won the Scale-up Award at the Barclays’ annual High Growth and Entrepreneur National Awards ceremony.

The awards were announced by actor, television presenter and radio DJ, Reggie Yates, during a live stream virtual event last week.

A key note speech was given by businesswoman, entrepreneur and TV Dragon, Deborah Meaden.

Speechmatics powers applications that require mission-critical, accurate speech recognition through its any-context speech recognition engine. Speechmatics’ speech recognition technology is used by enterprises in scenarios such as contact centers, legal, compliance, eDiscovery, security, media & entertainment and software. Speechmatics processes millions of hours of transcription worldwide every month in 30+ languages.

Having pioneered machine learning voice engineering, Speechmatics is enabling companies to build applications that detect and transcribe voice in any context and in real-time. Its neural networks consider acoustics, languages, dialects, multiple speakers, punctuation, capitalization, context and implicit meanings.

Katy Wigdahl, CEO, Speechmatics (pictured) said: “It has been a phenomenally challenging year for businesses across the world. Winning the scale-up of the year award for consistent and rapid growth means even more to our business in testing times. We have focused on building an innovative, automated technology that is vital to the growth and scale of many use cases and markets which has become even more critical during the pandemic.”

Juliet Rogan, National Head of High Growth at Barclays, said: “The awards are a celebration of the exceptional innovation and leadership entrepreneurs show, disproportionately driving job growth, attracting investment, and creating innovative products and services. In what has been a difficult time for businesses due to the coronavirus outbreak it is even more important than ever we celebrate and recognise their achievements. Entrepreneurs are fundamental to the UK’s economic competitive advantage, that shape our todays as well as tomorrows.”

A national judging panel made up of key industry leaders and influencers selected the overall national winners.

The awards bring the full entrepreneurial community together. This year, for the first time, Barclaycard joined the event alongside Barclays Rise and Eagle Labs as partners of the Awards. This group wide initiative started five years ago and forms an integral part of its support for entrepreneurship across the bank.

Originally published here.

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Bizzabo Raises $138 Million to Power the Hybrid Future of Professional Events

Insight Partners

Investment led by Insight Partners will help the company meet global demand amid COVID-19 & beyond

NEW YORK, Dec. 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —  Bizzabo, the world’s leading Event Success Platform, today announced it has raised $138 million in Series E funding. The investment is led by Insight Partners, with participation from previous investors, Viola Growth, Next47, and OurCrowd. Bizzabo will use the investment to meet surging demand for its platform globally and expand its category-leading capabilities as COVID-19 reshapes the future of the professional events industry. With the round, Bizzabo sets a new precedent for the largest private investment in an event technology platform.Without in-person events, organizations have turned to virtual conferences and trade shows to connect with customers and grow their business. With that, virtual events have enabled organizers to safely reach a wide audience, ensure event ROI, and deliver valuable data points to shape future strategies. Given the benefits, even with a COVID-19 vaccine imminent, virtual events aren’t going away anytime soon. Looking forward, events that combine in-person experiences with digital components will become the new normal.“The future of professional events isn’t virtual-only,” said Eran Ben-Shushan, CEO & Co-Founder of Bizzabo. “Our data shows very clearly that while virtual events have major benefits, attendees and businesses want to get back to live events. To stay relevant, marketers and event organizers will need to implement a hybrid strategy that blends together the best parts of virtual and in-person experiences.”Bizzabo’s event success platform empowers organizations to manage, measure, and grow professional events across the globe and in any format — virtual, in-person, or hybrid.“COVID-19 has permanently transformed the professional events category,” said Matt Gatto, a Managing Director at Insight Partners, who will join the Bizzabo board of directors. “Bizzabo’s impressive growth and momentum began pre-pandemic and accelerated during it as they launched the industry’s first end-to-end event technology solution. Their pedigree in both in-person and virtual events and their impressive execution capabilities have them well-positioned to lead this rapidly evolving space. We are excited to partner with their leadership team and to support them in this new phase of growth.”

In the past year, Bizzabo has seen revenue explode over 100 percent. This is powered by a substantial shift upmarket in 2020, with a significant portion of its customer base coming from the enterprise segment. Bizzabo has powered events for the world’s leading Fortune 100 in eCommerce, technology, education and media. Bizzabo’s Event Success Platform is used to support hybrid, virtual, and in-person professional events for enterprise and mid-market organizations across industries and verticals.

“Our platform has seen unprecedented demand this year,” said Ben-Shushan. “Compared to the year prior, the number of events organized through us has grown 65 percent. Additionally, the number of attendees registering for events with Bizzabo has grown 500 percent, while overall usage is up 150x. With a vaccine likely and more hybrid events in the future, we anticipate even greater growth. Bizzabo has been the category leader, experiencing hyper-growth both pre-pandemic and during the virtual transition, we are excited to continue to lead the market forward by doubling down on product, technology, and user experience, to help organizations unlock the power of hybrid experiences.”

To meet global demand for its platform, Bizzabo will use its investment to build a comprehensive technology that successfully integrates the experiences of virtual and in-person — for both organizers and attendees. The company will also expand its go-to-market operations and triple its engineering, product, and experience teams with the opening of two new offices in Europe in the first half of 2021. In addition, Bizzabo is looking to hire over a hundred new employees, globally, in 2021.

“This investment, led by ScaleUp software investor Insight Partners, is a testament to how Bizzabo is leading the charge in the future of event technology,” added Ben-Shushan. “Events have changed overnight and event technology needs to move as quickly.”

About Bizzabo

Bizzabo is the only Event Success Platform. Bizzabo’s all-in-one event software enables in-person, virtual, and hybrid events to deliver unique attendee experiences through intelligent and intent-based personalized engagement. We help companies measure, manage and scale events towards key business outcomes, empowering every organizer, marketer, exhibitor, and attendee to unleash the power of professional events. The company was founded by Boaz Katz, Alon Alroy, and Eran Ben-Shushan, and has more than 175 employees in its New York, Tel-Aviv and Kyiv offices. For more information on Bizzabo, visit www.bizzabo.com or follow us on Twitter @bizzabo

About Insight Partners

Insight Partners is a leading global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-growth technology and software ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Founded in 1995, Insight Partners has invested in more than 400 companies worldwide and has raised through a series of funds more than $30 billion in capital commitments. Insight’s mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with practical, hands-on software expertise to foster long-term success. Across its people and its portfolio, Insight encourages a culture around a belief that ScaleUp companies and growth create opportunity for all. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter @insightpartners.

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Shop-Ware Announces $15 Million in Series A Funding Led by Insight Partners

Insight Partners

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Shop-Ware, the automotive aftermarket’s premier cloud-based shop management software for independent repair shops, announced today that it has secured $15M in series A funding, led by Insight Partners, a leading global venture capital and private equity firm. The investment will support Shop-Ware’s continued growth, accelerate its innovation, and allow for a more aggressive go-to-market.

Carolyn Coquillette founded Shop-Ware out of her own repair shop in San Francisco to provide the transparency and sophistication that customers needed and that other systems lacked.

Shop-Ware handles everything for the next generation of auto repair, from digital customer communication to paperless shop operations, with an expansive product offering designed to reduce or remove the human effort needed to run the business. Repair shops experience 20% efficiency gains, higher gross profit, and a 12% increase in sales than over the phone. Their customers consistently boast increased satisfaction, mentioning the software in online reviews.

“Repair shops have to adapt quickly to the increased complexity of the cars they service. Shop-Ware brings automated, customized solutions to allow shops to thrive in business and inspire their customers,” said Shop-Ware founder and CEO Carolyn Coquillette. “Our team is proud to serve the community of hard-working, intelligent professionals that make auto repair possible, and Insight Partners shares our passion for delivering best-in-class products and services that this industry needs to transform.”

“With Shop-Ware, repair shop owners and technicians can maximize operational efficiencies and customer interaction using the company’s cloud-based management solution,” said Nikhil Sachdev, Managing Director at Insight Partners, who is joining Shop-Ware’s Board of Directors. “We are excited to partner with Shop-Ware to further scale their best-in-class product and capitalize on this growing market opportunity.”

The investment will be used to expand Shop-Ware’s engineering, support, and sales teams, to ramp the number of repair shops adopting the platform and speeding their onboarding period.

About Shop-Ware

Founded in 2013, Shop-Ware delivers professional-grade innovation to independent automotive service providers. As the industry’s premier enterprise-grade SaaS platform for shop management, Shop-Ware is committed to developing sophisticated tools to help the automotive aftermarket thrive and grow. Industry-first features include fully digital, cloud-based repair orders with native vehicle inspections, rich media, and customer live chat; real-time shop workflow and “expeditor” dispatch; native parts allocation and tracking for each job in progress; parts gross-profit “optimizer” that automatically seeks and attains a parts GP target; advanced analytics across unlimited repair facilities, and much more. For more information on Shop-Ware, visit www.shop-ware.com.

About Insight Partners

Insight Partners is a leading global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-growth technology and software ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Founded in 1995, Insight Partners has invested in more than 400 companies worldwide and has raised through a series of funds more than $30 billion in capital commitments. Insight’s mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with practical, hands-on software expertise to foster long-term success. Across its people and its portfolio, Insight encourages a culture around a belief that ScaleUp companies and growth create opportunity for all. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit www.insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter @insightpartners.

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Market Access Transformation (MAT) Secures First Institutional Funding Led by Silversmith Capital Partners

Market Access Transformation (MAT), a global healthcare company that uses cutting edge technology to automate and modernize how life sciences companies capture mission-critical insights that drive decision-making across the product lifecycle, today announced a $30 million minority investment from Silversmith Capital Partners, a Boston-based growth equity firm. The investment marks the first time MAT has raised outside capital and will be used to expand the company’s team and accelerate innovation of its product offerings.

Founded in 2016, MAT has revolutionized the way Global Payer Market Research is conducted by developing Rapid Payer Response (RPR), the industry’s only on-demand global platform for gathering critical payer insights. In five years, the company has built a client base of more than 45 biopharma and device manufacturers – including all of the Top 10 pharma companies. MAT’s partnership with Silversmith solidifies its market leadership position in providing technology-driven solutions to the healthcare community.

“Providing our clients with new and improved offerings that address unmet needs within healthcare research and analytics has been our primary focus since we started MAT,” said Baiju Aurora, MAT’s CEO and Co-Founder, who along with Co-Founder Paul Howard will continue to lead the company. “We are incredibly proud of what our team has achieved in such a short period of time and are excited to partner with Silversmith as we look to accelerate our product development initiatives.”

RPR is built on the company’s proprietary SaaS platform that enables manufacturers to obtain more robust insights, in 1/3 the time and 1/2 the cost of more traditional, manual-based approaches. RPR is powered by an expansive global payer network – which spans over 40 countries – and leverages a unique payer selection and vetting process. “While RPR has enabled us to deliver technology solutions to a wide variety of pharma companies across the globe, our expert team of pricing and market access specialists drive client engagement and satisfaction,” added Paul Howard.

“One of the biggest challenges life sciences organizations face is gathering payer insights in an agile manner to drive optimal clinical and commercial product strategies as regulatory and market dynamics evolve,” said Brian Peterson, Principal of Silversmith. “What impressed us most about MAT was their platform’s ability to deliver insights in days instead of months, while maintaining industry-leading quality on a global scale. We are thrilled to partner with Baiju, Paul and the entire MAT team, and look forward to working with them as they continue to bring innovative offerings to the market.”

As part of the investment, Brian Peterson and Jim Quagliaroli, Managing Partner of Silversmith, have joined MAT’s Board of Directors, along with Baiju Aurora and Paul Howard.

Choate, Hall & Stewart served as legal counsel to Silversmith Capital Partners and Day Pitney served as legal counsel to MAT.

About Market Access Transformation

With offices in the US, UK, and India, Market Access Transformation specializes in developing cutting edge technologies that enable the healthcare community to gather and exchange insights that assess the real-world potential of their products. MAT’s first product, Rapid Payer Response™ (RPR), is an online platform-based information exchange that allows healthcare manufacturers to secure On-Demand expert insight from the largest and most diverse global payer network in as little as 5 days. For more information about MAT, please visit www.marketaccesstransformation.com.

About Silversmith Capital Partners

Founded in 2015, Silversmith Capital Partners is a Boston-based growth equity firm with $2.0 billion of capital under management. Silversmith’s mission is to partner with and support the best entrepreneurs in growing, profitable technology and healthcare companies. Representative investments include ActiveCampaign, Appfire, Centauri Health Solutions, DistroKid, Impact, LifeStance Health, MediQuant, Panalgo, Unily, Validity, and Webflow. The partners have over 75 years of collective investing experience and have served on the boards of numerous successful growth companies including ABILITY Network, Archer Technologies, Dealer.com, Liazon, Liberty Dialysis, MedHOK, Net Health, Passport Health, SurveyMonkey, and Wrike. For more information about Silversmith, please visit www.silversmith.com.

For media Inquiries, please contact:

Kate Castle

Silversmith Capital Partners

P: 617.670.4345

kate@silversmithcapital.com

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Ivanti Acquires MobileIron and Pulse Secure to Deliver Intelligent and Secure Experiences Across All Devices in the Everywhere Enterprise

Siris

Ivanti Acquires MobileIron and Pulse Secure to Deliver Intelligent and Secure Experiences Across All Devices in the Everywhere Enterprise

The combination cements Ivanti’s position as a global market leader in Unified Endpoint Management, Zero Trust Security, and IT Service Management

SALT LAKE CITY, UT — December 1, 2020 — Ivanti, Inc., which automates IT and security operations to discover, manage, secure and service from cloud to edge, announced it has closed the acquisitions of MobileIron, a leading provider of mobile-centric unified endpoint management solutions, and Pulse Secure LLC, a leading provider of secure access and mobile security solutions. This business combination further solidifies Ivanti, which is backed by Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. and TA Associates, as a global market leader in Unified Endpoint Management (UEM), Zero Trust Security, and IT Service Management (ITSM).

“We are excited to welcome the MobileIron and Pulse Secure teams into the Ivanti family,” said Jim Schaper, Ivanti Chairman and CEO. Our intelligent experience platform will power business through hyper-automation and secure connections on every device, for any user, wherever and however they work. This enables our customers to collaborate and innovate more freely, while reducing the risk of data breaches and enhancing employee experiences. We have a tremendous opportunity ahead of us, and I’m very excited for the future.”

By bringing MobileIron and Pulse Secure into the Ivanti portfolio, organizations will be able to proactively and autonomously self-heal, self-secure, and self-service devices in the everywhere enterprise – in which employees, IT infrastructures, and customers are everywhere – and deliver better user experiences and outcomes. Through zero trust security and contextual automation, Ivanti’s solutions will make IT connections smarter and more secure across remote infrastructure, devices, and people. Ivanti is uniquely positioned to provide a comprehensive level of end-to-end coverage on every device.

Customers will benefit from real-time intelligence into the health, security, and performance of all devices from cloud to edge, enabling them to proactively detect and remediate vulnerabilities before they impact the business. Customers will be able to discover and manage devices, implement secure zero trust access with contextual automation, and deliver personalized employee experiences – improving productivity with better operational speed, cost, and quality of service.

Transaction Highlights

  • Under the terms of the agreement with MobileIron, Ivanti acquired all outstanding shares of MobileIron common stock for a total value of approximately $872 million. MobileIron stockholders received $7.05 in cash per share, representing a 27% premium to the unaffected closing stock price as of September 24, 2020.
  • MobileIron shareholders approved the acquisition at a special stockholder meeting on November 24, 2020. Over 91% of the voted shares were in favor of the acquisition.
  • Pulse Secure was acquired from affiliates of Siris Capital Group, LLC. The terms of the Pulse Secure transaction were not disclosed.

About Ivanti

Ivanti is redefining enterprise security with the industry’s first intelligent experience platform that makes every IT connection smarter and more secure across remote infrastructure, devices, and people through automation. From PCs and mobile devices to virtual desktop infrastructure and the data center, Ivanti discovers, manages, secures and services IT assets from cloud to edge in the everywhere enterprise — while delivering personalized employee experiences. In the everywhere enterprise, corporate data flows freely across devices and servers, empowering workers to be productive wherever and however they work. Ivanti is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah and has offices all over the world. For more information, visit www.ivanti.com and follow @GoIvanti.

 

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Media contacts:

Erin Jones
Avista Public Relations
Representing Ivanti
+1 704-664-2170
ejones@avistapr.com

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Inkef Capital – EclecticIQ raises €20 million in Series C funding

Inkef Capital

December 1st, 2020, 09:00am CET – EclecticIQ, a global threat intelligence, hunting and response technology provider, has raised €20 million ($24 million) in Series C financing, led by Ace Management, Europe’s leading cyber growth investor.

Other contributors to the funding round include Capricorn Digital Growth Fund and Quest for Growth, Invest-NL, Arches Capital and existing investors INKEF Capital, KEEN Venture Partners and KPN ventures. This brings the company’s total funding raised to €47 million over a four-year period, making it among the best funded global cybersecurity scale-ups based in Europe.

Funding will go towards deepening the company’s commitment to government, large enterprises and service providers, expanding its portfolio and increasing the company’s global footprint. With this investment EclecticIQ will accelerate its strategy to transform from a leading threat intelligence platform vendor into an innovative cybersecurity leader across the globe.

As cyber threats continue to evolve rapidly, intelligence-led cybersecurity has become the norm. EclecticIQ’s growing customer base relies on its threat intelligence platform as the single source of truth for cyber threats and incidents. The financing will drive further innovation of the platform with new use cases, enabling governments, large enterprises and service providers to effectively manage threat intelligence, create situational awareness and adopt an intelligence-led cybersecurity approach.

Having mastered threat intelligence technology, the company sees adjacent opportunities in operationalizing threat intelligence, as this is a problem that has not been solved in the market yet. With the recent acquisition of PolyLogyx’s end-point technology, the company is well positioned to develop new solutions that re-imagine how organizations detect, hunt and respond to sophisticated threats.

To accelerate growth, EclecticIQ will use the funding to expand its commercial teams in Europe and the United States, and establish a presence in the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Leveraging its experience with governments, and some of the most targeted enterprises globally, the company will expand its focus to new segments and strengthen its global partner ecosystem.

François Lavaste, Partner at Ace Management who will join EclecticIQ’s board of directors, said: “We are convinced that Ace Management’s new investment will help the company to improve and accelerate its solutions that enable the world’s biggest governments and commercial enterprises to identify and protect against the most intense cyber threats.”

Joep Gommers, EclecticIQ’s co-founder and chief executive officer said, “It is exciting to bring in a high-caliber cyber investor like Ace Management, which shares our vision of threat intelligence at the core of cybersecurity, and sees the opportunity to transform the industry by solving massive challenges faced in threat detection, hunting and response. This financial investment will enable EclecticIQ to drive the industry forward and support our clients more effectively facing an ever-evolving threat landscape.”

EclecticIQ has seen impressive growth over the years:

  • Growth: In 2019, the company grew its revenue by 84 percent by successfully expanding the company’s market segments from government to larger financial organizations, telecoms and big tech companies.
  • Product: EclecticIQ is continuing to push the envelope, with a new intelligence ingestion engine introduced to the EclecticIQ Platform, improving robustness and scalability of the company’s core threat intelligence technology.
  • Industry alliances: The company is a sponsor member of OASIS, EclecticIQ joined the Open Cybersecurity Alliance (OCA), along with some of the biggest names in cybersecurity.
  • Leadership: The company further strengthened its leadership team, adding Wytse Bouma (ex Rockstart) as CFO, and Ciaran Bradley (ex Adaptive Mobile, Kemp) as CTO.
  • Board: Three new members have been appointed to its board: Ben Verwaayen (KEEN Venture Partners, previously CEO of BT Group PLC Alcatel-Lucent, President of KPN Telecom and Vice-Chairman of Lucent Technologies), François Lavaste (Partner, Ace Management) and Katrin Geyskens (Partner, Capricorn Partners). The Board is chaired by Sam van der Feltz (ex Unilever, TNS & EMI).

Bryan, Garnier & Co acted as sole financial advisor and sole placement agent for EclecticIQ.

To learn more about the funding and what the company is doing with the investment read the blog post by our CEO Joep Gommers.

About EclecticIQ

EclecticIQ is a global threat intelligence, hunting and response technology provider. Its clients are some of the most targeted organizations, globally. To build tomorrow’s defenses today, these organizations have to understand the threats against them – and align their efforts and investments to mitigate their risks. EclecticIQ helps governments, large enterprises and service providers effectively manage threat intelligence, create situational awareness and adopt an intelligence-led cybersecurity approach. The company extended its focus towards hunting and response with the acquisition of Polylogyx’s end-point technology in 2020. Founded in 2014, EclecticIQ operates globally with offices across Europe, North America, and via certified value-add partners. More information.

About Ace Management

Ace Management, a subsidiary of Tikehau Capital, is a private equity firm specialised in strategic industries and technologies, with over €1Bn in assets under management.
Founded in 2000, Ace invests through sector-focused approaches (midmarket private equity in Aerospace & Defence and venture and growth capital investments in Cybersecurity / Digital Trust). Ace has built its model on strategic partnerships with large corporates (including Airbus, Safran, Dassault Aviation, Thales, EDF, Naval Group, Sopra Steria), which invest in its funds and maintain an ongoing dialogue with the firm, enabling Ace to take a differentiated approach to investing. Ace operates offices in Paris (HQ), Toulouse, Bordeaux and Montréal, and benefits from the worldwide presence of Tikehau Capital. More information.

About Capricorn Partners

Capricorn Partners is an independent European manager of venture capital and equity funds, investing in innovative European companies with technology as competitive advantage. The investment team of Capricorn is composed of experienced investment managers with deep technology expertise and a broad industrial experience. Capricorn Partners is managing the venture capital funds Capricorn Digital Growth Fund, Capricorn Sustainable Chemistry Fund, Capricorn ICT Arkiv, Capricorn Health‐tech Fund, Capricorn Cleantech Fund and Capricorn Fusion China Fund. In addition, it is the management company of Quest for Growth, quoted on NYSE Euronext Brussels, and the investment manager of Quest Cleantech Fund and Quest+, sub‐funds of Quest Management SICAV, registered in Luxembourg. More information.

About Invest–NL

Invest-NL is an impact investor committed to businesses and projects that will make the Netherlands more sustainable and innovative. Its focus lies on the energy transition and on innovative, fast-growing companies, or scale-ups. Invest-NL supports innovative entrepreneurs through financing and advice according to one simple principle: impact is our goal, return is our means. As the Dutch partner for European investment institutions, Invest-NL is dedicated to cooperation and always works together with other investors. Invest-NL is headquartered in Amsterdam and employs a staff of 50 people. More information.

About Arches Capital

Arches Capital is a fast-growing group of business angels that invests in startup and scale-up companies with a large growth potential. Through its investments Arches Capital bridges the gap between formal investors (VCs) and informal investors (business angels), by joining the best of both worlds: “we source, select and invest like a VC; we engage, care and inspire as the angel we are”. Arches Capital differentiates itself by bringing superior deal flow, professional knowledge and a lower risk profile to the participating angel investors, while supporting its successful portfolio companies from start to exit through follow-on investments. For this Arches Capital is building the leading platform of actively engaged business angels that know how to operate and manage their investments in a professional and standardized manner. More information.


EclecticIQ press contact

Ronald Fabbro, VP Marketing EclecticIQ
+31 (0) 20-737 10 63
marketing@eclecticiq.com

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Keen – EclecticIQ Raises €20M in Series C Funding

Keen

December 1, 2020 — EclecticIQ, a global threat intelligence, hunting and response technology provider, has raised €20 million ($24 million) in Series C financing, led by Ace Management, Europe’s leading cyber growth investor.

Other contributors to the funding round include Capricorn Digital Growth Fund and Quest for Growth, Invest-NL, Arches Capital and existing investors INKEF Capital, KEEN Venture Partners and KPN ventures. This brings the company’s total funding raised to €47 million over a four-year period, making it among the best funded global cybersecurity scale-ups based in Europe.

Funding will go towards deepening the company’s commitment to government, large enterprises and service providers, expanding its portfolio and increasing the company’s global footprint. With this investment EclecticIQ will accelerate its strategy to transform from a leading threat intelligence platform vendor into an innovative cybersecurity leader across the globe.

As cyber threats continue to evolve rapidly, intelligence-led cybersecurity has become the norm. EclecticIQ’s growing customer base relies on its threat intelligence platform as the single source of truth for cyber threats and incidents. The financing will drive further innovation of the platform with new use cases, enabling governments, large enterprises and service providers to effectively manage threat intelligence, create situational awareness and adopt an intelligence-led cybersecurity approach.

Having mastered threat intelligence technology, the company sees adjacent opportunities in operationalizing threat intelligence, as this is a problem that has not been solved in the market yet. With the recent acquisition of PolyLogyx’s end-point technology, the company is well positioned to develop new solutions that re-imagine how organizations detect, hunt and respond to sophisticated threats.

To accelerate growth, EclecticIQ will use the funding to expand its commercial teams in Europe and the United States, and establish a presence in the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Leveraging its experience with governments, and some of the most targeted enterprises globally, the company will expand its focus to new segments and strengthen its global partner ecosystem.

François Lavaste, Partner at Ace Management who will join EclecticIQ’s board of directors, said: ”We are convinced that Ace Management’s new investment will help the company to improve and accelerate its solutions that enable the world’s biggest governments and commercial enterprises to identify and protect against the most intense cyber threats.”

Joep Gommers, EclecticIQ’s co-founder and chief executive officer said, “It is exciting to bring in a high-caliber cyber investor like Ace Management, which shares our vision of threat intelligence at the core of cybersecurity, and sees the opportunity to transform the industry by solving massive challenges faced in threat detection, hunting and response. This financial investment will enable EclecticIQ to drive the industry forward and support our clients more effectively facing an ever-evolving threat landscape.”

EclecticIQ has seen impressive growth over the years:

  • Growth: In 2019, the company grew its revenue by 84 percent by successfully expanding the company’s market segments from government to larger financial organizations, telecoms and big tech companies.
  • Product: EclecticIQ is continuing to push the envelope, with a new intelligence ingestion engine introduced to the EclecticIQ Platform, improving robustness and scalability of the company’s core threat intelligence technology.
  • Industry alliances: The company is a sponsor member of OASIS, EclecticIQ joined the Open Cybersecurity Alliance (OCA), along with some of the biggest names in cybersecurity.
  • Leadership: The company further strengthened its leadership team, adding Wytse Bouma (ex Rockstart) as CFO, and Ciaran Bradley (ex Adaptive Mobile, Kemp) as CTO.
  • Board: Three new members have been appointed to its board: Ben Verwaayen (KEEN Venture Partners, previously CEO of BT Group PLC Alcatel-Lucent, President of KPN Telecom and Vice-Chairman of Lucent Technologies), François Lavaste (Partner, Ace Management) and Katrin Geyskens (Partner, Capricorn Partners). The Board is chaired by Sam van der Feltz (ex Unilever, TNS & EMI).

Bryan, Garnier & Co acted sole financial advisor and sole placement agent for EclecticIQ.

To learn more about the funding and what the company is doing with the investment read the blog post by Joep Gommers here.

About EclecticIQ
EclecticIQ is a global threat intelligence, hunting and response technology provider. Its clients are some of the most targeted organizations, globally. To build tomorrow’s defenses today, these organizations have to understand the threats against them – and align their efforts and investments to mitigate their risks. EclecticIQ helps governments, large enterprises and service providers effectively manage threat intelligence, create situational awareness and adopt an intelligence-led cybersecurity approach. The company extended its focus towards hunting and response with the acquisition of Polylogyx’s end-point technology in 2020. Founded in 2014, EclecticIQ operates globally with offices across Europe, North America, and via certified value-add partners. More information

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Eclecticiq raises €20 million in series C funding

Arches Capital

Investment led by Ace Management.
Total investment in the organization over four-year period tops €47 million.

Amsterdam – 1 December 2020 – EclecticIQ, a global threat intelligence, hunting and response technology provider, has raised €20 million ($24 million) in Series C financing, led by Ace Management, Europe’s leading cyber growth investor.

Other contributors to the funding round include Capricorn Digital Growth Fund and Quest for Growth, Invest-NL, Arches Capital and existing investors INKEF Capital, KEEN Venture Partners and KPN ventures. This brings the company’s total funding raised to €47 million over a four-year period, making it among the best funded global cybersecurity scale-ups based in Europe.

Funding will go towards deepening the company’s commitment to government, large enterprises and service providers, expanding its portfolio and increasing the company’s global footprint. With this investment EclecticIQ will accelerate its strategy to transform from a leading threat intelligence platform vendor into an innovative cybersecurity leader across the globe.

As cyber threats continue to evolve rapidly, intelligence-led cybersecurity has become the norm. EclecticIQ’s growing customer base relies on its threat intelligence platform as the single source of truth for cyber threats and incidents. The financing will drive further innovation of the platform with new use cases, enabling governments, large enterprises and service providers to effectively manage threat intelligence, create situational awareness and adopt an intelligence-led cybersecurity approach.

Having mastered threat intelligence technology, the company sees adjacent opportunities in operationalizing threat intelligence, as this is a problem that has not been solved in the market yet. With the recent acquisition of PolyLogyx’s end-point technology, the company is well positioned to develop new solutions that re-imagine how organizations detect, hunt and respond to sophisticated threats.

To accelerate growth, EclecticIQ will use the funding to expand its commercial teams in Europe and the United States, and establish a presence in the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Leveraging its experience with governments, and some of the most targeted

enterprises globally, the company will expand its focus to new segments and strengthen its global partner ecosystem.

We are convinced that Ace Management’s new investment will help the company to improve and accelerate its solutions that enable the world’s biggest governments and commercial enterprises to identify and protect against the most intense cyber threats.

François Lavaste, Partner at Ace Management

François Lavaste, Partner at Ace Management who will join EclecticIQ’s board of directors.

It is exciting to bring in a high-caliber cyber investor like Ace Management, which shares our vision of threat intelligence at the core of cybersecurity, and sees the opportunity to transform the industry by solving massive challenges faced in threat detection, hunting and response. This financial investment will enable EclecticIQ to drive the industry forward and support our clients more effectively facing an ever-evolving threat landscape.

Joep Gommers, EclecticIQ’s co-founder and chief executive officer

EclecticIQ has seen impressive growth over the years:

  • Growth: In 2019, the company grew its revenue by 84 percent by successfully expanding the company’s market segments from government to larger financial organizations, telecoms and big tech companies.
  • Product: EclecticIQ is continuing to push the envelope, with a new intelligence ingestion engine introduced to the EclecticIQ Platform, improving robustness and scalability of the company’s core threat intelligence technology.
  • Industry alliances: The company is a sponsor member of OASIS, EclecticIQ joined the Open Cybersecurity Alliance (OCA), along with some of the biggest names in cybersecurity.
  • Leadership: The company further strengthened its leadership team, adding Wytse Bouma (ex Rockstart) as CFO, and Ciaran Bradley (ex Adaptive Mobile, Kemp) as CTO.
  • Board: Three new members have been appointed to its board: Ben Verwaayen (KEEN Venture Partners, previously CEO of BT Group PLC Alcatel-Lucent, President of KPN Telecom and Vice-Chairman of Lucent Technologies), François Lavaste (Partner, Ace Management) and Katrin Geyskens (Partner, Capricorn Partners). The Board is chaired by Sam van der Feltz (ex Unilever, TNS & EMI).

Bryan, Garnier & Co acted as sole financial advisor and sole placement agent for EclecticIQ.

About EclecticIQ
EclecticIQ is a global threat intelligence, hunting and response technology provider. Its clients are some of the most targeted organizations, globally. To build tomorrow’s defenses today, these organizations have to understand the threats against them – and align their efforts and investments to mitigate their risks. EclecticIQ helps governments, large enterprises and service providers effectively manage threat intelligence, create situational awareness and adopt an intelligence-led cybersecurity approach. The company extended its focus towards hunting and response with the acquisition of Polylogyx’s end-point technology in 2020. Founded in 2014, EclecticIQ operates globally with offices across Europe, North America, and via certified value-add partners.

For more information, visit www.eclecticiq.com.

About Ace Management
Ace Management, a subsidiary of Tikehau Capital, is a private equity firm specialised in strategic industries and technologies, with over €1Bn in assets under management.

Founded in 2000, Ace invests through sector-focused approaches (midmarket private equity in Aerospace & Defence and venture and growth capital investments in Cybersecurity / Digital Trust). Ace has built its model on strategic partnerships with large corporates (including Airbus, Safran, Dassault Aviation, Thales, EDF, Naval Group, Sopra Steria), which invest in its funds and maintain an ongoing dialogue with the firm, enabling Ace to take a differentiated approach to investing. Ace operates offices in Paris (HQ), Toulouse, Bordeaux and Montréal, and benefits from the worldwide presence of Tikehau Capital.

For more information, visit www.acemanagement.fr.

About Capricorn Partners
Capricorn Partners is an independent European manager of venture capital and equity funds, investing in innovative European companies with technology as competitive advantage. The investment team of Capricorn is composed of experienced investment managers with deep technology expertise and a broad industrial experience. Capricorn Partners is managing the venture capital funds Capricorn Digital Growth Fund, Capricorn Sustainable Chemistry Fund, Capricorn ICT Arkiv, Capricorn Health-tech Fund, Capricorn Cleantech Fund and Capricorn Fusion China Fund. In addition, it is the management company of Quest for Growth, quoted on NYSE Euronext Brussels, and the investment manager of Quest Cleantech Fund and Quest+, sub-funds of Quest Management SICAV, registered in Luxembourg.

For more information, visit https://capricorn.be.

About Invest-NL
Invest-NL is an impact investor committed to businesses and projects that will make the Netherlands more sustainable and innovative. Its focus lies on the energy transition and on innovative, fast-growing companies, or scale-ups. Invest-NL supports innovative entrepreneurs through financing and advice according to one simple principle: impact is our goal, return is our means. As the Dutch partner for European investment institutions, Invest- NL is dedicated to cooperation and always works together with other investors. Invest-NL is headquartered in Amsterdam and employs a staff of 50 people.

For more information, visit http://www.invest-nl.nl

About Arches Capital
Arches Capital is a fast-growing group of business angels that invests in startup and scale-up companies with a large growth potential. Through its investments Arches Capital bridges the gap between formal investors (VCs) and informal investors (business angels), by joining the best of both worlds:

“ We source, select and invest like a VC;
We engage, care and inspire as the angel we are. ”

Arches Capital differentiates itself by bringing superior deal flow, professional knowledge and a lower risk profile to the participating angel investors, while supporting its successful portfolio companies from start to exit through follow-on investments. For this Arches Capital is building the leading platform of actively engaged business angels that know how to operate and manage their investments in a professional and standardized manner.

For more information, visit www.arches.capital.

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Francisco Partners to Acquire International Business of CDK Global for $1.45 Billion

Franciso Partners

Press Release – November 30 2020

Unique Opportunity to Acquire Leading Provider of Automotive Retail Software in EMEA and Asia and Accelerate Product Development and Growth in Support of Industry Transformation

LONDON AND SAN FRANCISCO — Francisco Partners, a leading global investment firm that specializes in partnering with technology businesses, announced today the execution of a definitive agreement with CDK Global, Inc. (Nasdaq:CDK) to acquire CDK’s International business segment (“CDKI”), a leading provider of automotive retail software solutions in EMEA and Asia, for $1.45 billion.

“The automotive retail experience is undergoing dramatic change. With its leading market position in EMEA and Asia, we believe CDKI is uniquely placed to support this transformation in these regions, and that by becoming a standalone company it will better be able to execute on this exciting opportunity,” said Petri Oksanen, Partner at Francisco Partners, who will join the CDKI board of directors upon closing of the transaction. “We look forward to working closely with the CDKI team and both their dealer and OEM customers – as well as the broader ecosystem – to provide the technologies and solutions needed through both organic development and add-on acquisitions to successfully deliver on this ongoing industry transformation.”

“We are impressed with the recent product developments and innovation at CDKI,” added Matt Spetzler, Partner at Francisco Partners, who will also join the CDKI board at closing. “We believe the CDKI team has a sound strategy and strong foundation to leverage towards the goal of becoming the future automotive retail software platform of choice. We will seek to utilize our substantial resources and experience in helping other similarly situated software companies to accelerate the realization of CDKI’s vision.”

“For the last two decades, first with ADP and then with CDK Global, CDKI has operated effectively as an independent unit with different products and solutions, customers, and geographies,” said Neil Packham, President, CDK Global International. “We are excited about the partnership with Francisco Partners and how we can accelerate our strategic journey and growth potential as an independent company. With its broad portfolio, Francisco Partners brings a wealth of transformation experience and relationships to benefit our business for the future opportunities and challenges we face. And like us, they believe in delivering excellent service and products and are committed to outstanding customer service.”

Francisco Partners is being advised by Portico Capital as its financial advisor, RL Frey Inc., and Paul Hastings LLP and Kirkland & Ellis as legal counsel. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory review.

About Francisco Partners

Francisco Partners is a leading global investment firm that specializes in partnering with technology and technology-enabled businesses. Since its launch over 20 years ago, Francisco Partners has raised over $24 billion in committed capital and invested in more than 300 technology companies, making it one of the most active and longstanding investors in the technology industry. The firm invests in opportunities where its deep sectoral knowledge and operational expertise can help companies realize their full potential. For more information on Francisco Partners, please visit franciscopartners.com.

About CDK Global

With $2 billion in revenues, CDK Global (NASDAQ:CDK) is a leading global provider of integrated information technology solutions to the automotive retail and adjacent industries. Focused on enabling end-to-end automotive commerce, CDK Global provides solutions to dealers in more than 100 countries around the world, serving approximately 30,000 retail locations and most automotive manufacturers. CDK solutions automate and integrate all parts of the dealership and buying process, including the acquisition, sale, financing, insuring, parts supply, repair and maintenance of vehicles. Visit cdkglobal.com.

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Conscia appoints Morten Hübbe as new Chairman to accelerate growth

Nordic Capital

Conscia appoints Morten Hübbe as new Chairman to accelerate growth Image

 

“Nordic Capital is excited to be part of Conscia’s growth journey, supporting the business through its continued international expansion strategy whilst also strengthening its offering within cybersecurity, multi-cloud and managed services. Morten is a very experienced leader and brings a unique set of skills and experience when it comes to digitalisation and security. We are confident that he will bring very valuable expertise to further support Conscia on its growth journey,” said Fredrik Näslund, Partner, Nordic Capital Advisors.

Morten Hübbe is Group CEO of Tryg, one of the largest non-life insurance companies in the Nordic region and Deputy Chairman of SimCorp, one of the world’s leading providers of integrated investment management solutions. He has a proven track record in building strong fintech businesses. Morten holds 25+ years of insurance experience, of which nearly 20 years have been at the top executive level. In addition, he has Supervisory Board experience from Banking, Software and IT development, for example in KBC, KMD and Zürich Financial Services.  He has also been recently appointed new Chairman of Siteimprove, another Nordic Capital portfolio company.

“Conscia is on a very strong growth trajectory, and I’m looking forward to supporting the Company with my experience in software, technology and entering new markets. I am delighted to be appointed Chairman of Conscia and looking forward to working with CEO Claus Thorsgaard and his management team and Nordic Capital,” says Morten Hübbe.

Morten will succeed Torben Munch as Chairman. Torben has chosen to step down to increase his focus on his operational role as CEO of MFEX and Chairman of Vizrt, both Nordic Capital portfolio companies.

“Nordic Capital like to take this opportunity to thank Torben Munch for his great contributions as Chairman of Conscia,” Fredrik Näslund adds.

Conscia is a leading European provider of security and IT Infrastructure Solutions based on technology from Cisco, complemented with other leading technology partners. Conscia was founded in 2003 in Denmark. Today, Conscia has approximately 750 employees in six countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany and Slovenia) with a total turnover of approx. DKK 2.5 billion (c. EUR 335 mn). In 2019, Nordic Capital acquired Conscia and has, in close partnership with the management team, supported its continued expansion and invested to further strengthen its market leading position and service offering.

Technology & Payments is one of Nordic Capital’s focus sectors where it has extensive experience, a strong and active sector network, and a dedicated team with local presence across Northern Europe. Since 2018, Nordic Capital has made 18 platform investments in this sector including former and current investments such as Bambora, Trustly, Conscia, BOARD International and Signicat.

Footnote: “Nordic Capital” refers to any, or all, Nordic Capital branded or associated investment vehicles and their associated management entities. Nordic Capital is advised by several non-discretionary sub-advisory entities, any or all of which is referred to as “Nordic Capital Advisors”.

Press contacts

Nordic Capital
Katarina Janerud, Communications Manager
Nordic Capital Advisors
Tel: +46 8 440 50 50
e-mail: katarina.janerud@nordiccapital.com

Conscia

Janni Bilenberg, CMO
Tel: +45 3119 2845
e-mail: jbi@conscia.com

About Conscia

Conscia is a Network of Knowledge and an ICT service provider that specialises in cyber security, IT infrastructure solutions, and managed services. As a trusted advisor Conscia strives to support the customers ‘business-critical IT infrastructure’ across the entire value chain from design, implementation, operation and optimization. The ambition is supported by profound technical competencies and insight, which is displayed through the unique customer portal, this also forms the basis for the best customer experiences and the highest customer satisfaction in the industry. Another strategic goal for Conscia is to be the most attractive workplace for talented IT infrastructure specialists in Europe. Currently Conscia Group has more than 750 employees across six countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Netherlands, and Slovenia), with an annual turnover of approximately DKK 2,5bn DKK (€335mm). For more information, please visit Conscia.com

About Nordic Capital

Nordic Capital is a leading private equity investor with a resolute commitment to creating stronger, sustainable businesses through operational improvement and transformative growth. Nordic Capital focuses on selected regions and sectors where it has deep experience and a long history. Core sectors are Healthcare, Technology & Payments, Financial Services and Industrials & Business Services. Key regions are Northern Europe and globally for Healthcare. Since inception in 1989, Nordic Capital has invested more than EUR 15 billion in over 110 investments. The Nordic Capital vehicles are based in Jersey. They are advised by several non-discretionary sub-advisory entities based in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Germany, the UK and the US, any or all of which are referred to as Nordic Capital Advisors. For further information about Nordic Capital, please visit nordiccapital.com

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