Silverpeak, the technology investment bank, acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Sentryo, a France-based company that provides asset visibility and cybersecurity solutions for industrial control systems (ICS), on its acquisition by Cisco.
Sentryo is the pioneer in solutions dedicated to managing the cyber risk of M2M networks and industrial control systems. Sentryo’s ICS CyberVision empowers control engineers as the front line of defence to ensure integrity, continuity and security of their industrial processes. It leverages unique AI algorithms to give them comprehensive visibility on their industrial assets, so they can easily identify vulnerabilities, detect anomalies in real-time and work with IT to fight cyber-attacks. Sentryo’s ICS CyberVision is used every day by large corporations in the energy, manufacturing and transportation markets.
Silverpeak originally worked with Sentryo on a fundraising round during which time we assisted management in developing a comprehensive long term strategic growth plan to become the de facto leader in Europe and enter the US market. Shortly thereafter Sentryo were approached by a strategic buyer and again as lead adviser, Silverpeak were appointed to map the marketplace, identify and contact potential buyers and negotiate a transaction through to final completion.
Thierry Rouquet, CEO of Sentryo said, “Silverpeak have been the long-term corporate finance advisers to Sentryo, and helped engineer the previous round of financing based on an ambitious international drive. When Sentryo was approached unexpectedly they were once again ready to help and conducted a rapid scan of interested parties before helping us negotiate the win-win deal with Cisco. During this whole process, Silverpeak always acted speedily and professionally. We especially appreciated their international reach as well as the local support. To be honest, at many junctures, they helped us to convince our shareholders of the considerable potential of Sentryo, resulting in a price which, in many ways, went beyond our expectations.”
As a serial entrepreneur, Thierry knew the ropes and had a clear objective of building a world leader in the cybersecurity sector applied to industry. From starting the business to reaching a leadership position in Europe and to joining forces with the world leader in networking (and the inventor of the Internet of Everything moniker) took just 5 years, which is a credit to the team and its backers. Along the way, Silverpeak helped keep the ambition alive through funding first and then the Cisco transaction, which proved to be a fantastic exit for the financial shareholders, as well as great recognition for the team and the resources of a large firm to continue with their vision.
Throughout the journey, Silverpeak delivered steadfast support maintaining the level of ambition required in the face of startup competitors who were raising up to 10x more funds than Sentryo who, in the end, proved to be the most capital efficient of all. The Cisco transaction demonstrates we were right in supporting Sentryo and its backers, and shows, once again, the value of Silverpeak’s technology specialisation as well as its efficient delivery across Europe.
This is the fifth transaction that Silverpeak has completed in the last three months.