PRESS RELEASE
- Namirial S.p.A., an Ambienta portfolio company has acquired Netheos, French digital transaction leader, focused on remote identification and digital onboarding solutions
- Netheos will enhance Namirial product portfolio, offering customer onboarding and KYC solutions
- The acquisition consolidates Namirial’s position in France and French speaking countries
(MILAN / LONDON / PARIS / MUNICH) – November 4, 2021 – Ambienta SGR SpA (“Ambienta”), one of Europe’s largest asset managers entirely focused on environmental sustainability, is pleased to announce that its platform Company Namirial S.p.A. (“Namirial”), a leader in digital trust software and services, has completed the acquisition of Netheos SAS (“Netheos”), French provider of remote identity verification and customer onboarding solutions.
Netheos, founded in 2004 and headquartered in Montpellier, is one of the leading French providers of remote identity verification and customer onboarding solutions. The company offers solutions for customers onboarding online, providing an integrated platform for identity verification, documents check and digital agreement automation. The unique selling proposition of Netheos is to ensure at the same time a frictionless experience that maximizes customers conversion rates and a reliable and secure process that minimizes the risk of frauds and meets the strictest compliance requirements. Netheos is primarily serving customers in regulated industries such as financial services and fintech, insurance and real estate.
Namirial, thanks to this acquisition, completes its offer by adding customer on-boarding and KYC – Know Your Client – solutions to its digital trust services. The combination of Netheos technology with Namirial Digital Trust Services, will help companies better deliver on the overall digital business imperative, providing best-in-class customer experience, making simplicity meet security and compliance.
The acquisition will be delivering several advantages: Netheos customers and partners gain access to Namirial digital transaction management capabilities, including trust services for identification, authentication, and ad-hoc provision of certificates for creation of advanced and qualified electronic signatures according to EU Regulation 910/2014 eIDAS. Namirial customers and partners will benefit from extended capabilities in identification and onboarding, complementing their existing digital transaction management installations and customers and partners of both companies, will have broader global accessibility thanks to combined market coverage. Namirial will also have a much stronger presence in the strategic markets of France and French speaking countries.
“Namirial is solidifying its position as a digital transaction management leader in executing its growth strategy,” said Aragon CEO and Lead Analyst Jim Lundy. “The choice to acquire Netheos is adding strong artificial intelligence capabilities for both identification and document verification to the Namirial portfolio. Namirial can now claim to be an AI-powered company more than ever.”
Ambienta acquired a majority stake in Namirial in May 2020; within the first months of the investment huge progresses have been made regarding the main strategics directions: from the buildup of a new leadership team alongside the co-founder Enrico Giacomelli and its existing management team, the creation of a full set of management systems and processes, the fostering of the ESG culture within the group by launching Ambienta ESG in Action® program, to the organic growth acceleration with the e-commerce implementation and the launch of new products and go-to-market teams. As a result of these actions, Namirial has further accelerated its growth in 2020 and 2021, while maintaining industry-best profitability and cash generation metrics.
Netheos, as per Namirial, has a positive environmental impact: its software and services allow online identification and onboarding avoiding printing bulky documents and with no need to travel to sign contracts. In addition, this acquisition points out the success of Ambienta’s entry into France, with its Paris office opened in 2020, which helped to better cover this territory and ultimately to secure this acquisition.
Massimiliano Pellegrini, CEO of Namirial said: “The entry of Netheos into Namirial represents a natural evolution of our digital trust services platform and solutions strategy. Customers in regulated industries, particularly in the financial services vertical, have expressed interest in having more identification and fraud prevention capabilities embedded within our solutions. We believe this acquisition provides significant competitive differentiation over other digital trust platform providers.”
Olivier Détour, Founder and CEO of Netheos said: “We are excited to have Namirial investing in Netheos.” He added: “We appreciate the Namirial corporate strategy, focused on sustainable long-term growth and stakeholder value. The joint product portfolios represent a great fit to harness market needs, including our joint commitment to offer white-labeled solutions. The acquisition is great news for Netheos customers: while there will be continuity in terms of management, sales and support contacts, as we combine our companies’ industry-leading technologies, our customers and partners will benefit from unparalleled capabilities.”
Giancarlo Beraudo, Partner at Ambienta, said “We are very proud of the acquisition of Netheos, which is the first step in our M&A strategy aimed at further internationalize Namirial and fostering our unique position as a global leader in digital trust services, based on a truly pan-European DNA”. Giancarlo added “Netheos is the perfect fit for Namirial as the acquisition will deliver a multitude of synergies for us and our customers and ultimately will further accelerate our growth journey.”
