Vitruvian Partners investment fund acquired about 30% of Bitdefender from Axxess Capital and becomes the second largest shareholder in the company, valued at over USD 600 million, according to Agerpres.
Bitdefender co-founders, Mariuca and Florin Talpes will continue to own the majority stake in the company. At the same time, a group of private investors hold a minority stake in the company.
Bitdefender asserts that will capitalize on the new partnership with Vitruvian Partners to strengthen its leader position both in the market for security solutions for companies and the market for individual users.
The company has expanded its international footprint in recent years by establishing a new headquarters in Santa Clara, California, in addition to the one in Bucharest. Over 40% of the company’s total sales come from the North American market, one of the regions with the highest growth worldwide.
The transaction between Axxess Capital and Vitruvian Partners has been intermediated by representatives of the London branch of Deutsche Bank AG and is to be subject to the approvals of the regulatory institutions.
Bitdefender provides complex protection solutions to security threats, employs 1,300 people in nine countries, serving 500 million users in over 150 markets through a network of around 7,000 re-seller partners.
Also, more than 50% of employees are involved in research and development activities in the four R&D centres in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Iasi and Timisoara.
Vitruvian Partners is a pan-European investment fund, based in the UK, focusing on fast-growing technology companies. Portfolio investments include companies like Just Eat, FarFetch, Skyscanner, Voxbone, Ebury, CRF Health, Trustpilot, Callcredit and Snow Software. The fund has offices in London, Stockholm, Munich, San Francisco and Luxembourg.
Axxess Capital is an investment consultancy firm with 15 years of experience in Southeast Europe, during which it invested over EUR 250 million through three investment funds in industries such as manufacturing, IT&C and fast-moving consumer goods. One of the Axxess Capital funds, Balkan Accession Fund (EUR 110 million), which targeted investment opportunities in Romania and Bulgaria, is currently in the exit stage.
