Ardian acquires 20% stake in Ikoula

The capital will allow Ikoula to invest in research and development and to fund an acquisitive European expansion strategy.

The investment was drawn from the Ardian Croissance Fund, a European SME-focused vehicle that recently closed on €70m, surpassing its €60m target. The fund seeks to invest up to €10m per transaction.

The deal is Ardian's second investment in the technology sector in recent months, having acquired a 72% stake in Italian software firm RGI Group in May.

Company
Founded in 1998 and based in Boulogne Billancourt, France, Ikoula is a cloud-based computing company. The company has more than 6,000 clients for its Express Hosting, Enterprise Services and EX10 products.

People
Jules-Henri Gavetti is co-founder and president of Ikoula. Caroline Mertens is co-founder, partner and human resources manager at Ikoula. Antoine Lacour, a director for Ardian's innovation and growth team, will take a seat on the board.

Advisers
Equity – Gide Loyrette Nouel, Pierre Karpik, Sophie Andribet (Legal); Grant Thornton, Marc Claverie, Camille Petitjean (Financial due diligence); Willington Avocats, Joanna Farah (Tax).
Company – Arnaud Legrand (Legal). 

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• Topics
• France
• Technology
• Expansion
• France
• Ardian (formerly Axa PE)