Jean-Noël de Galzain,
President of HEXATRUST,
President of WALLIX Group.
Hexatrust brings together French cybersecurity players, all publishers of solutions in the field of digital trust. What if we trusted them to create a sustainable digital society?
The evolution of digitalization needs, the protection of sensitive corporate assets, the fight against cybercrime and cyber threats, and the respect of personal data are tasks that call for the mobilization of the entire ecosystem of cybersecurity and a dialogue between industry, government and users in order to create a sustainable and trusted digital society.
To date, HEXATRUST has united 29 software companies around nine major trusted solutions that work to create an excellent response to the challenges of digital security. They are FrenchTech startups, innovative SMEs and Mid-caps, whose combined technologies make it possible to meet the compliance and security challenges of companies, administrations and users.
The strategic nature of these issues requires a choice of solutions of trust and sovereignty that are certified and validated by ANSSI. In France, the sector is emerging and driven by large security companies that are often integrators of solutions, as well as our SMEs who are experiencing very strong growth (+ 17% in 2015, some over 50%, with export dynamics growing by more than 30%).
Many recent changes in the capital of members of the HEXATRUST group, however, reflect a contrasting financial and industrial reality. In just 24 months, iTrust, Idecsi, Brainwave, InWebo, Ercom, Ozon, Pradeo, Seclab, Sentryo, EfficientIP and Olfeo have raised funding from private investors in France and Europe. WALLIX Group also showed the way to the financial markets by listing on Euronext Alternext and raising over € 10 million.
In total, between € 30 million and € 40 million were raised altogether. We are a long way from the two- or three-digit fundraising of our competitors across the Atlantic.
At the same time, three of our most mature SMEs, Opentrust, Qosmos and Denyall, positioned on network security, transaction security, and web-based protection, were acquired by or sold a strategic asset to a foreign investor: Opentrust DocuSign, an American unicorn, Qosmos to ENEA, a Swedish software publisher, and finally Denyall to Rohde & Shwarz, a German industrial ETI positioned on the future industry and cybersecurity. In total, this represents a little less than 100M € of assets sold.
These acquisitions confirm investor’s interest in our technology nuggets, and in particular, interest from European manufacturers. The needs are there and are driven by digital transition, the cloud, future industry and its own challenges such as the security of industrial systems, robots or the Internet of things. On a wider scale, the exponential multiplication of data opens up significant market opportunities. Who is in doubt? What role do we want to play and which value do we want to create?
The application of the regulations, initiated since 2013 and promoted in 2016,regarding the protection of personal data, the application of the NIS Directive and the RGDP in sensitive companies as well as digital transformation or cybercrime will feed the market in the months and years to come and accelerate it to generate growth in no time.
So there is urgency!
We need more capital
HEXATRUST has the assets to make emerging medium-sized companies champions of French-European Cybersecurity.
But we need the State to maintain a competitive and stable tax environment, raise the level of public procurement by our administrations and local authorities, and the increased support of BPI France, which is too little invested in our sector alongside our startups.
We also need ANSSI so that our products and services receive the certifications and qualifications they compete for before our competitors have invaded the market with oversized fear marketing.
And we also need a lot more capital! We need more private investors who are advised and interested in the challenges of digital such as future industries, eHealth, the Internet of things, the cloud or more broadly by sustainable digital transition.
The coming months should see the emergence of investment funds reinforced by the industrialists, the BPI and European funds supported by the Juncker Plan. These are necessary to accompany sustainable digital transition and make FrenchTech the French Industry of Cybersecurity.
We finally and above all need the trust of the users! Today, large private companies’ orders are the first vector of growth of our SMEs representing 50% of their revenues, with public procurement only 28%, Defense is less than 10%. Another important growth factor is the international market, which constitutes 30% of the income of HEXATRUST members. But to go far, we need a strong base, an expanded internal market with homogenized regulations and entrepreneurs.
In this environment, can we envisage a digital Europe protected by a European cybersecurity industry? Or, perhaps something else?
To implement our Critical Infrastructure Protection (NIS) and Data Protection (RGPD) laws, protect our digital identities and those of our children, and to protect our cultural heritage, language and assets it is essential to transform the implementation of these European and national regulations into a market opportunity to the service of our industry. It is also important to change our purchasing behaviors within companies to adopt a lucid, sometimes sovereign, and at all times, an ecosystem approach.
HEXATRUST will therefore continue to unite entrepreneurs, SME managers, our teams and our partners of the ecosystem to seek out users, investors and our European partners, and to constitute a strong armed force that values our sector of excellence, confidence and Cybersecurity.
Everyone must reach out to build a sustainable future.