During European Cybersecurity month, consulting company Silicom and e-learning SaaS platform Seela have announced their merger to create Pr0ph3cy Group (“Pr0ph3cy” or “the Group”), a provider of IT and cybersecurity services in France. Pr0ph3cy will serve large private groups and government agencies to provide solutions for their critical security needs and will offer an e-learning platform aimed at upskilling or reskilling IT, network and cyber professionals.
By anchoring the Start-up mindset with a well-established SME in the French ecosystem, Silicom and Seela will demonstrate with this new group their ambition to actively participate in the emergence of European industrial sovereignty.
The Group has signed an agreement with IK Partners (“IK”) who will acquire a significant minority stake in the Group alongside Arthur Bataille, who will retain control and management of the business.
The transaction was led by IK’s Development Capital team and is the first investment from the dedicated pool of Development Capital in the IK Small Cap III Fund, which held a final close at its hard cap of €1.2 billion earlier this year.
European Ambitions
IK, together with management, will further develop the Group through five key goals:
- Become the French leader in securing technological products by mastering the design and integration of “Secure by Design” as well as the technical training for these products;
- Consolidate the French cybersecurity ecosystem around its training solution to promote its technical and technological excellence internationally;
- Recruit over 100 individuals in 2022 in France, Europe and Canada to support its clients in their growth strategies and in the securitisation of their digital products and services. This organic growth strategy could be accelerated by targeted acquisitions facilitated by its new financial partner IK;
- Accelerate the technological shift of cybersecurity through Artificial Intelligence around SOC (Security Operation Centre) – the centre of operations focused on monitoring threats – and SIEM (Security Information Management System) – the monitoring tool used by analysts that includes software to monitor enterprise networks; and
- Reinforce digital sovereignty and accelerate the upskilling of cyber professionals to safeguard jobs and the French economy in the digital field.
Arthur Bataille, Founder and CEO of Pr0ph3cy Group: “Pr0ph3cy is a vision, a concept around innovation and the evolution of the cybersecurity market in France and internationally. As the market continues to evolve it is a decisive moment in our development. While cyber issues gain dominance, the French government is aware of the importance of reinforcing the digital security of organisations. The time has come to invest with the goal to create and promote French and European champions. To this end, we must also foster employment and training of cyber jobs in the context of talent shortage.”
Pierre Gallix, Partner at IK Partners and Advisor to the IK Small Cap III Fund: “Pr0ph3cy benefits from tremendous potential in its two business lines. We have every confidence that Arthur and his team will actively contribute to the rise of the cybersecurity market and we are very happy to support him in the deployment of his strategy.”
Pr0ph3cy PR Contact:
Leslie Toledano
Bureau de presse Leslie Toledano
+33 (0) 6 10 20 79 60
contact@leslietoledano-pressoffice.com
IK Partners PR Contact:
Maitland/AMO
James McFarlane
+44 (0) 7584 142665
jmcfarlane@maitland.co.uk / ik-maitland@maitland.co.uk
