RIVAGE raises €50 million to structure a buy-and-build model in cybersecurity
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With a €50 million fundraising round from Strada Partners, Rivage is laying the initial foundations of an industrial project focused on consolidating the French market for managed services and cybersecurity. The transaction is accompanied by a first acquisition, Infoclip, a specialized digital services company, providing immediate substance to a buy-and-build strategy that remains relatively underdeveloped in this segment.
A consolidation strategy in a fragmented market
Rivage’s positioning emerges within a French digital services market estimated at over €71.2 billion, a significant share of which is driven by a network of independent players specializing in managed services, cloud, and cybersecurity. More than 2,000 companies coexist in this segment, often high-performing, yet loosely integrated. This fragmentation constrains investment capacity, particularly in increasingly demanding cybersecurity infrastructures. It is within this context that Rivage seeks to position itself, not as a disruptive technology player, but as a consolidation operator.
A founder-centric buy-and-build model
Rivage’s approach involves acquiring majority stakes in profitable companies while allowing founders to reinvest in the group and retain operational roles, similar to the model deployed by EDG.
Édouard Rousseau, co-founder of Rivage, summarizes this approach:
“Business succession is often seen as an end in itself. We believe it can become the starting point of a new growth cycle. Rivage brings together entrepreneurs from high-performing companies who choose to join forces to continue growing collectively. We are building an alliance of entrepreneurs who remain independent, but are no longer alone.”
This mechanism aims to preserve leadership engagement while generating economies of scale through the pooling of support functions (HR, finance, sales) and the sharing of operational best practices.
A structuring first acquisition with Infoclip
The integration of Infoclip marks the first concrete step in this strategy. Founded in 1989, the company operates across the full digital services value chain: managed services (MSP), cybersecurity (MSSP), and software integration.
With more than €8 million in revenue (over 70% of which is recurring) alongside a client base of 500 SMEs and mid-sized companies, and hosting infrastructures certified ISO 27001 and HDS, Infoclip reflects the typical profile targeted by Rivage: profitability, recurring revenue, and strong client proximity.
Éric Melki, co-founder of Infoclip, explains the rationale behind the deal:
“Joining Rivage means choosing to accelerate with confidence. With Laurent, we recognized in Édouard and Adrien a vision and an energy that resonate with what we have built over the past 35 years. This partnership opens a new, more ambitious chapter, while remaining true to who we are. We are convinced that the best is yet to come.”
The transaction, fully financed through equity, represents an initial milestone without reliance on external debt, leaving future acquisition financing structures open.
Between industrial logic and financial asset construction
In the background, Strada Partners provides a more structured analytical framework for the project. Founded by Bart Wouters and Matthias Vandepitte, the firm follows a growth-oriented private equity strategy, backed by more than twenty-five years of experience and a track record across software, tech-enabled services, and healthcare. Its approach focuses on building concentrated portfolios supported over the long term, with the ambition of developing platforms capable of scaling across Europe.
Strada Partners’ role fits within this dual logic, combining capital provision with operational expertise in executing buy-and-build strategies.
Rik De Dobbeleer, Investment Manager at Strada Partners, adds:
“We are proud to support Rivage in building this new alliance. Their unique model, which places sovereignty and entrepreneurial autonomy at the core of its approach, is the ideal response to building a champion capable of securing businesses across France.”
A structuring ambition towards 2030
Rivage is targeting over €100 million in revenue by 2030. Beyond scale, the key challenge lies in structuring a coherent group from autonomous entities in a sector where operational integration remains a critical success factor.
The bet rests on a delicate balance: preserving the identity and agility of acquired companies while building a platform capable of pooling investments and meeting increasingly stringent cybersecurity requirements.
In a market where succession options are often limited, between maintaining independence with constrained financing and integration into larger groups, Rivage proposes a third path. The remaining question is its ability to sustain this model over time and maintain alignment between entrepreneurial logic and financial discipline.
