Data science for business
Data science for business
Paris, November 30 2020. Ekimetrics, European leader in data science solutions, welcomes two minority shareholders: Tikehau Capital –via its growth capital fund, which was recently awarded the “Relance” label- and Bpifrance –via its MidCap fund. The founders of Ekimetrics, who will retain a controlling stake, hope to invest the combined total of EUR 24 million in fuelling the company’s international growth, enhancing its technological assets, and setting a new standard for the sector worldwide.
Ekimetrics provides industrialized corporate data science solutions to meet its clients’ most pressing business needs. Specifically, it uses data to maximize companies’ return on investment on marketing expenses and optimize sales, the customer experience, and the entire operational model.
Ekimetrics targets both larger and intermediate-sized enterprises and major organisations across all industries, seeking to help them build their data capital, and use data science and artificial intelligence (AI) to further their business in a practical, sustainable and ethical way.
Founded in 2006, Ekimetrics has enjoyed strong organic growth since launch of around 30% per year, self-funding projects in over 50 countries. The company has a presence in Paris, London, New York and Hong Kong and now has one of the largest independent teams in Europe, comprising over 240 data scientists.
“After 14 years of experience, we have a clear vision and firm beliefs about the factors that ensure data projects have a genuine impact and create new competitive advantages,” comments Jean-Baptiste Bouzige, founder and CEO of Ekimetrics.
This investment will allow us to go even further and faster in affirming our unique positioning at the intersection of business and data science.
Ekimetrics’ approach involving off-the-shelf modules has led to its strong growth, occupying a middle ground between players offering “tailor-made” solutions – which have low levels of standardisation and so struggle to secure successes for the company at large – and powerful platforms that lack the flexibility to overcome time-to-market constraints. Ekimetrics helps its clients avoid the main pitfalls of data projects, for which high failure rates (over 75%) and lengthy implementation phases remain the norm. Ekimetrics’ long-standing, close relationships with its clients, including major international firms, has demonstrated the market need for this approach.
This fresh capital will enable Ekimetrics to speed up the rollout of its Core Data Science Platform, expand its library of off-the-shelf business modules, enhance its technological and methodological assets, and so provide a more innovative, agile service.
It will also serve as a catalyst for the growth of its subsidiaries abroad, including the United States and China.
Emmanuel Laillier, Head of Private Equity at Tikehau Capital, declared: “Ekimetrics is a highly innovative company that has carved out a niche for itself in a rapid-growth market. Its solutions have garnered recognition from a whole host of clients and the company enjoys excellent prospects for development. We are delighted to be able to contribute to its growth and provide some of the resources that will ensure it achieves its goals. We plan to draw on our investment team’s wealth of digital and technological expertise, as well as our international network of offices in America, Europe and Asia, to assist Ekimetrics as it seeks to accelerate the expansion of its business activities and ultimately position itself as the global leader in the field of AI.”
“We were impressed and won over by the sheer quality of the vision, technology and teams at Ekimetrics, as well as its trajectory so far, and we are pleased to be helping the management team to implement their growth strategy,” adds Luc Heinrich, Managing Director of the Bpifrance MidCap fund.
“This partnership with Tikehau Capital and Bpifrance creates an invaluable asset, as it will provide added impetus for our international expansion while also confirming our status as France’s AI champion,” notes Quentin Michard, who founded Ekimetrics and is now responsible for its development strategy.
About Tikehau Capital Tikehau Capital is an asset management and investment group with €27.2 billion of assets under management (at 30 September 2020) and shareholder equity of €2.8 billion (at 30 June 2020). The Group invests in various asset classes (private debt, real assets, private equity and capital markets strategies) including through its asset management subsidiaries that act on behalf of institutional and private investors. Controlled by its managers alongside leading institutional partners, Tikehau Capital employs more than 570 people (at 30 June 2020) in its offices based in Paris, London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, New York, Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo.
Bpifrance’s equity investments are carried out by Bpifrance Investissement. Bpifrance funds companies at every stage in their lifecycle through loans, guarantees and equity investments, and provides support with innovative and international projects. Moreover, Bpifrance assists with their export activities through a wide range of products. Advice, a university, networking and an accelerator aimed at start-ups, SMEs and intermediate-sized enterprises are also among the services on offer to entrepreneurs.
Thanks to Bpifrance and its 50 regional offices, entrepreneurs can rely on a trusted point of contact who will help them to overcome the challenges they face.
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