Equistone buys Eperi, VC backers exit

Harriet Matthews
22 February 2022

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Equistone Partners has acquired a majority stake in Germany-based cybersecurity software Eperi in a deal that sees its previous venture capital backers Evolution Equity Partners and BtoV exit the business.

Elmar Eperiesi-Beck, founder and CEO of Eperi, will continue to lead the business and has retained a significant stake in the company, according to a statement.

Eperiesi-Beck said in the same statement that the company had been seeking a partner with financial capacity and a track record of building companies. Equistone intends to focus on internationalising the company, as well as a targeted buy and build strategy.

The GP is currently deploying equity via Equistone Partners Europe VI which held a final close in March 2018 on its EUR 2.8bn hard-cap. The fund deploys equity tickets of EUR 25m-EUR 200m, typically targeting European mid-market companies with enterprise values of EUR 50m-EUR 500m. The vehicle was expected to make 25-30 investments and has made 26 deals to date including Epiri, according to Unquote Data.

Unquote sister publication Mergermarket reported in December 2021 that Equistone intended to make digitisation an increasingly prominent theme of its upcoming investments, as well as maintaining its focus on bolt-ons for its portfolio companies, in an interview with senior partner Dominic Geer.

In addition, Geer told Mergermarket that the GP had deployed the majority of its Equistone VI vehicle, with around 40% dry powder remaining. As such, he said that the GP could "potentially be thinking about fundraising within the next year or so."

Previous funding
BtoV invested EUR 500,000 in Eperi in October 2014. The funding was intended for the development of the company's international sales structures, according to a statement issued at the time. According to BtoV's website, the VC invested in the company via its Industrial Technologies strategy. The latest vehicle in the strategy held a final close in October 2019 on EUR 100m.

Mergermarket reported in April 2017 that Eperi was close to finalising the second tranche of a USD 5m capital raise, backed by BtoV and Evolution Equity Partners. At the time, CEO Elmar Eperiesi-Beck told Mergermarket that each VC held a minority stake in the business of roughly equal size.

Company
Founded in 2003, Epiris initially operated as a consultancy before shifting its focus to data protection and cybersecurity in 2014. The company provides cybersecurity software for data protection and security in on-premise, hybrid and multi-cloud environments, serving a range of large international companies from the financial, healthcare and industrial sectors. Eperi is headquartered in Pfungstadt, near Frankfurt am Main.

People
Equistone Partners Europe – Marc Arens (senior partner and country head DACH/Netherlands); Sebastian Wintgens (director); Christoph Wüstemeyer (investment manager).
Eperi – Elmar Eperiesi-Beck (founder, CEO).
Evolution Equity Partners – Dennis Smith, Karel Obluk (partners).

Advisers
Equity – Boston Consulting Group (commercial due diligence); Code & Co (technology due diligence); Bird & Bird (legal); PwC (financial due diligence, tax); Pöllath (legal).