Clipperton acted as sole financial advisor to Preligens (formerly named Earthcube) in its Series A of €20 million led by Ace Management and Definvest, a dedicated fund of French Ministry of Armed Forces managed by Bpifrance, together with existing investor 360 Capital.

  • Clipperton is pleased to announce that it advised Preligens, a Security & Defence AI software company on its new financing round, a Series A of €20M led by Ace Management and Definvest, fund of French Ministry of Armed Forces managed by Bpifrance, together with existing investor 360 Capital.
  • The proceeds of the fundraising will enable Preligens to pursue its hypergrowth phase with an increasing international footprint, and consolidate its European leadership as a “Deftech” startup.
  • The transaction first highlights Clipperton’s expertise in the Software space and in particular related to Artificial intelligence, with several AI-centric transactions over the last twelve months, from different verticals and at different stages of development (such as Qopius, Ibex Medical Analytics, Dreamquark, Finfrog,…)
  • It also underlines our increasing focus on the Cybersecurity software market. In this market, the new era, characterized on one side by the strong increase in cyber threats linked with the rise of highly sophisticated and tech-savvy attackers, and on the other side by the need from both companies and the public sector in Europe of tier-1 sovereign solutions, should enable in the coming years the emergence of European leaders in an industry segment historically dominated by US and Israeli vendors. Preligens operates in a specific segment of Cybersecurity, focused on Military Intelligence for government entities, where sovereignty is of paramount importance.

 Our client

  • Founded in 2016 by Arnaud Guérin, CEO, and Renaud Allioux, CTO, Paris-based company Earthcube (newly named Preligens) develops advanced geo-spatial monitoring solutions which exploit disruptive artificial intelligence technologies.
  • The value proposition of Preligens is to provide intelligence services with breakthrough technologies enabling intelligence agencies to facilitate rapid decision-making and anticipate potential threats.
  • With newly established offices in Washington D.C. and London, the company has grown to 80 people becoming Europe’s biggest artificial intelligence research centre in its field.

Deal highlights & rationale

  • This fundraising will allow Preligens to consolidate its position towards becoming the global reference provider of AI-augmented Defence & intelligence software.
  • In the coming months, the company will continue to invest in its technology to maintain its lead in artificial intelligence subjects applied to the Defence and Intelligence sectors: having reached unparalleled detection performance when it comes to AI-automated analysis of geospatial information, Preligens is now expanding its offer to other crucial data sources for Defence and Intelligence sectors. This product expansion will allow to better meet evolutive needs of historical clients as well as answer new use cases and new clients.
  • In addition, Preligens will intensify its international development by reinforcing its position in established countries as well as opening up in other NATO countries.
  • The financing round is co-led by:
    • Ace Management, a subsidiary of Tikehau Capital, a financial investor with a strong experience in the aerospace industry and an increasing focus on the cybersecurity market.
    • Definvest, fund of the French Ministry of Armed forces dedicated to strategic defence companies, managed by Bpifrance
    • 360 Capital, VC fund renowned for its Deep Tech expertise and existing investor of Preligens.
  • Private investors are joining this fund syndicate, including Octave Klaba, founder and chairman of the OVH group board.

 

 Clipperton’s role

  • Clipperton was able to accompany Preligens in finding relevant investors in the very specific sector of defence and security.
  • Arnaud Guerin, Cofounder & CEO, stated “Clipperton has been a trusted partner in this transaction: their understanding of Artificial Intelligence – in our case applied to security and defence – was very relevant in this process and helped us craft a solid case to find suitable investors”.
  • Thibaut Revel commented “Successfully advising Preligens in this Series A is a great achievement for Clipperton in the cybersecurity space: we are delighted to have found high profile investors for the next phase of the company growth”.

 

 Deal team 

Click here for a list of our recent transactions.