A major European player in telecoms and Cloud services, Sewan is taking a new step in its development by completing a record €75 million fund raising from Kartesia. With a highly differentiating offer and business model, this French operator is experiencing the strongest growth in its market, with revenues that have almost doubled over the last three years, rising from €63 million in 2016 to €116 million in 2019 (forecast).
A leading player in France in the SME market, Sewan is also present in Spain and, since last November, in Belgium, where it is establishing itself through external growth. Its solutions are distributed throughout Europe through a large network of resellers. This fund raising gives the company the means to further accelerate its international development, finance its R&D investments and create new innovative products.
Record fundraising to support XXL growth
Since its creation in 2007, Sewan has pursued a single vocation: to simplify and facilitate corporate communications. To achieve this, the operator offers innovative services in telephony, Internet access, collaborative tools and the Cloud.
A pioneer in indirect sales in its sector, its solutions are today used by more than 55 000 customers, via a reseller network of 850 partners in Europe. After raising €12 million from the Audacia fund between 2014 and 2016, Sewan is now moving up a gear with European investor Kartesia, which is injecting €75 million in its capital to boost its growth. This independent fund, which specializes in SMEs and ETIs, is part of a partnership approach with the entrepreneurs it supports.
"Sewan is a recognised leader in a competitive and technical market. The company has been providing high-performance alternative solutions for years to clients who have often been poorly supported by the major operators. With a proven track record of competitiveness and growth, future expansion into new markets will further strengthen the rapid growth that Sewan has enjoyed to date. "says Julien Rigon, Director at Kartesia.
"Our business is based on the strength of our concept and a real demand for higher quality telecommunication services from SMEs. From the outset, we saw a clear gap in the French market, as well as in other European countries, where we believe there are significant opportunities. We are delighted that Kartesia sees the legitimacy of our project and has agreed to support the next stage of our development. "explains Alexis de Goriaïnoff, Chairman of Sewan Groupe.
Increased resources to support European ambitions and strong technologies
This fund-raising, the largest in France in the telecom sector this year, should enable it to maintain growth in excess of 25%, by supporting a development strategy based on 2 main areas:
- An acceleration in international expansion: after Spain in 2016, the recent opening of Belgium following the acquisition of the Belgian operator 3Starsnet and very soon Germany, Sewan is targeting new acquisitions and investments to establish itself as a major player in telecoms and the Cloud in Europe.
- An increase in its investments in R&D and software development to equip its partners and customers with tools and applications to simplify business communications. It also aims to further widen the gap with traditional operators.
But this contribution will also enable it to acquire the talent needed to achieve these two objectives. 200 recruitments are planned for 2020, in France and in its European subsidiaries. The affiliation of 300 new partners is also a key objective for next year. Finally, Sewan is considering probable technological acquisitions to reinforce its innovation and disruptive proposals, such as Gen-IP, acquired last March, which is an expert in voice reception solutions and Cloud-based contact centres.
75 million euros for the B2B operator @SewanGroupe https://t.co/4ENcng3kCi #Télécoms pic.twitter.com/207FHMcoBK
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