PARIS: Wendel (Euronext: MF.FP), through its Wendel Growth investment arm, announced today the acquisition of a minority stake in YesWeHack through an equity investment of €14.5 million.

Wendel invests alongside Adelie, Seventure Partners and historical investors Eiffel Investment Group, Open CNP2 and Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations.

YesWeHack is a cybersecurity company that was founded in 2015. The company has developed a platform to manage Bug Bounties, a cybersecurity technique consisting in incentivizing a community of ethical hackers to detect and report vulnerabilities in exchange for bounties. YesWeHack connects organisations to tens of thousands of ethical hackers. The goal is uncovering and patching vulnerabilities in websites, mobile apps, connected devices and digital infrastructure. YesWeHack has a strong international footprint with dominant positions in France and Singapore and clients coming from over 50 countries.

Hundreds of organisations worldwide – private, public and governmental – already benefit from YesWeHack’s in-house triage3, personalised support, customisable model and a results-based billing model for the customer.

Built and run by ethical hackers, YesWeHack has in-depth knowledge of what ethical hackers and organisations need from a Bug Bounty platform to cost-effectively secure digital assets, reputations and customer data.

Antoine Izsak, Head of Growth Equity, said: “Bug bounty is now recognised as a must by some of the companies most exposed to the cyber threat. We are delighted to be working with the European leader YesWeHack, which stands out for its quality of service, compliance with regulations and the relevance of its technological roadmap for customers who are increasingly overwhelmed by the growing volume of vulnerabilities.”

Guillaume Vassault-Houlière, YesWeHack CEO, stated: “This new round of funding is a vote of confidence in our commitment to excellence and ambitious vision. Thanks to this investment, YesWeHack commits to delivering even higher levels of customer satisfaction and accelerating development of innovative solutions in one of the most dynamic market segments in cybersecurity. We would like to express our deep gratitude to Wendel for their support. Their considerable experience and long-term vision will be decisive assets for YesWeHack in this new phase of its development, which will make it a global player in cybersecurity.”

Wendel is one of Europe’s leading listed investment firms. The Group invests in Europe and North America in companies which are leaders in their field, such as ACAMS, Bureau Veritas, Crisis Prevention Institute, IHS Towers, Scalian, Stahl and Tarkett. Wendel often plays an active role as a controlling or significant shareholder in its portfolio companies.

Wendel seeks to implement long-term development strategies, which involve boosting growth and margins of companies so as to enhance their leading market positions. With Wendel Growth, Wendel also invests via funds or directly in innovative, high-growth companies. In 2023, Wendel initiated a strategic shift into third-party asset management of private assets, alongside its historical principal investment activities.

Wendel is listed on Eurolist by Euronext Paris.

Wendel has sold 9% shares in Bureau Veritas for 1.1 billion euros

Wendel enters talks to acquire 51% in IK Partners for 383 million euros