Atempo, a French company specializing in data backup and cybersecurity solutions, has recently undergone a significant turnaround. In November 2023, the Marseille Commercial Court placed the company under bankruptcy reorganization. However, the company has now been acquired by HorizonH, a Luxembourg-based venture capital fund, which is partnering with two investment firms: TechLife Capital and NewFund.
The consortium has announced plans to invest €5 million to revitalize Atempo and set it back on a path to growth. The takeover was validated on May 28th by the Marseille Commercial Court’s Economic Activities Division. The new owners emphasize that this revival will safeguard most of the company’s jobs and mark the beginning of a new phase of strategic development and expansion.
As of 2023, Atempo’s financial health was showing serious strain. The company reported a net loss of €7.2 million on revenue of €14.2 million, while carrying nearly €13 million in financial debts. Despite these challenges, Atempo remains active in the market with its flagship solutions: Tina, which offers server and application protection; Lina, designed for endpoint security; and Miria, its data management platform. The current CEO, Luc d’Urso, also serves as Vice President of Hexatrust. Alongside COO Cyprien Roy, they will continue to lead the company. Looking ahead to 2024, Atempo announced they had gained 200 new customers and established relationships with over 50 Managed Service Providers (MSPs) serving as distributors for their offerings.
HorizonH, the new owner, underscores that this acquisition aligns with broader European priorities such as digital sovereignty, regulatory compliance with frameworks like NIS2 and DORA, and the resilience of critical infrastructure. They see this as a strategic move to counter the recent trend of foreign capital dominance which has led some competitors to lose control over their technological assets.
Founded over thirty years ago in the Île-de-France region, Atempo’s journey has been marked by several ownership and strategic shifts. In the early 2010s, the company was acquired by an American firm, Allen Systems Group. Later, in summer 2017, Luc d’Urso, then President of Wooxo—a company targeting SMEs with similar solutions—led the acquisition of Atempo through his holding Kick Start Management. This combined entity was briefly known as Wooxo-Atempo before officially merging under the Atempo name in early 2021.
Atempo has also had notable moments in the tech industry spotlight: In 2006, the company merged with Storactive, a move coinciding with other major industry mergers like EMC’s acquisition of Avamar, Kashya, and Nextract, and HP’s acquisition of OuterBay. In 2011, at the CRIP club conference, Atempo was revisited as a key player in the backup and data management space. Their strategic partnerships include collaborations like the one with Scaleway in 2019, which involved offering Miria solutions, and during the COVID-19 crisis in 2020, when Atempo provided free access to Lina, their endpoint protection product, to help organizations safeguard their workstations.
This latest development signals a new chapter for Atempo, as the company seeks to recover from recent setbacks and reassert its position in the competitive cybersecurity and data management market. The backing of HorizonH and its partners may indeed provide the impetus needed to restore stability and fuel future innovation.
