Parquest joins Capza as Advens minority shareholders alongside its founder and the management team

Parquest invests in Advens, the first pure player in cybersecurity and leader in Security-as-a-Service in France, in the context of the operation led by Capza alongside the founder and the Management team. An unprecedented operation paving the way for a new corporate model with a societal impact. 

Capza and Parquest enter the capital as minority shareholders, alongside the founder Alexandre Fayeulle and the management, who remain majority shareholders. As a result of the transaction, the shareholding will be extended to one third of Advens’ employees.

This is a major operation – which would value Advens at more than 100 million euros – and above all, unprecedented. Indeed, in addition to the company’s growth and development objectives, the management and shareholders have chosen to place societal impact at the heart of Advens’ business model. On this occasion, up to 40% of the company’s financial value will be distributed in the coming years to an endowment fund to support initiatives with a societal impact, in particular to promote the inclusion and education of the younger generation. The endowment fund will be supported from the start by Alexandre Fayeulle, Capza and Parquest in order to quickly launch the first initiatives. Ultimately, it could be the largest endowment fund in Europe on this theme. Advens offers a comprehensive cybersecurity package that combines high value-added services with an innovative Security-as-a-Service model to meet the growing needs of companies, regardless of their specific sector or business. Advens has therefore developed an operational security centre (“Security-as-a-Service Factory”) unique in France, which takes advantage of the best technologies, Artificial Intelligence and human expertise to provide efficient and proven protection against cyberthreats. Led by Alexandre Fayeulle, founding Chairman, and David Buhan, CEO, Advens supports more than 300 clients in France and abroad. Thanks to the Group’s dynamism and capacity for innovation, it has achieved a historic growth of over 20% in its cybersecurity services business. The Group’s overall growth has accelerated over the last three years, driven by its rapidly growing Security-as-a-Service offering, at a pace of over 70% per year.

With the support of Capza and Parquest, and by capitalising on the very strong loyalty of its teams and clients, Advens’ ambition is to become a leader in cybersecurity and the first Security-as-a-Service provider in Europe.

« Following the announcement of our partnership with Capza in June, we are now very happy to welcome Parquest in the Advens project. As with Capza, we were very keen to embark Parquest on this adventure, a team that perfectly embraces our values and nurtures the same entrepreneurial 2 and societal ambition. We wanted this association of complementary investors to give an additional impact to our plan, for the protection of our clients and for the progress of society.»
Alexandre Fayeulle, Founder, Advens.

« Nous sommes ravis de pouvoir accompagner Advens dans la réalisation de ses grandes ambitions technologiques, économiques et sociétales. Le parcours remarquable de la société ces dernières années et son engagement historique pour une croissance plus juste et inclusive en ont fait une priorité évidente d’investissement pour Parquest en 2021. »
Pierre Decré, Partner, Parquest.

« Advens has succeeded in developing a unique model on its market, combining a high-end cyber consulting offer, a disruptive Security-as-a-Service offer with very strong growth, and a constant attractiveness allowing year after year to recruit the best talents in a skills shortage market.»
Camille Coutelet, Investment Manager, Parquest.