Scotto Partners is advising Mailinblack on a transaction in which Apax Partners is acquiring a majority stake, with support from NewAlpha Verto

Mailinblack, the Marseille-based software company that makes cybersecurity accessible to all organizations, has welcomed Apax Partners—one of Europe’s leading private equity firms (through its Apax Development fund)—as its new majority shareholder. Apax is thus joining the company’s shareholder base alongside the NewAlpha Verto fund, management, and existing shareholders (Entrepreneur Invest and founder Damien Neyret) with the goal of enabling the company to make high-performance, accessible cybersecurity available to all, consolidate its market position, and diversify its solutions.

Founded in 2003, Mailinblack is the French startup that makes cybersecurity accessible to all organizations. Its teams, consisting of 70 employees based in Marseille, design, develop, and host its cybersecurity solutions in France. These include the Protect solution (email protection against malware, phishing, ransomware, spam, scams, etc.) and the Cyber Coach awareness and training tool. As a winner of the Grand Défi Cyber and with over 19 years of expertise in security, R&D, and artificial intelligence, Mailinblack now has 1 million users and 14,000 clients in the public and private sectors. In 2022, it was the only company in the cybersecurity sector to earn the Best Workplaces certification from Great Place To Work®.

Accustomed to double-digit growth, Mailinblack saw its revenue increase by 28% and its customer base grow by 15% in 2021, primarily among small and medium-sized businesses, local governments, and healthcare facilities.

Thanks in particular to the support of its new investors, Mailinblack aims to quadruple its revenue by 2026 by accelerating its marketing hiring and expanding its direct and indirect sales channels, as well as by developing complementary offerings.

As part of this transaction, Scotto Partners provided advice through a team consisting of Jérôme Commerçon (partner), Claire Revol-Renié (partner), Alexandre Zouhal, Caroline Vieren, and Alban Tourneux on corporate, labor, and tax matters.