Leuven, Belgium — Vault­Speed, the auto­ma­ted data trans­for­ma­tion company, announ­ced that it has recei­ved a Series A finan­cing of USD 15.9 million (approx. USD 15.9 million (approx. EUR 15.1 million). This finan­cing round is led by Octo­pus Ventures, one of the largest and most active venture capi­tal inves­tors in the UK and conti­nen­tal Europe. The current inves­tor Fort­ino Capi­tal, PMV and BNP Pari­bas Fortis Private Equity are also invol­ved. After two conse­cu­tive years of triple-digit reve­nue growth, Vault­Speed intends to use the proceeds to expand its strong inter­na­tio­nal presence, with a parti­cu­lar focus on the UK and US markets, and to further deve­lop the platform’s auto­ma­tion capabilities.

To enable faster analy­ses and data-driven decis­i­ons, more and more large compa­nies are moving their data to the cloud. This poses a problem for data teams: without auto­ma­tion, it is prac­ti­cally impos­si­ble to trans­form and inte­grate data from multi­ple sources in a timely manner without compro­mi­sing on quality or quan­tity. — Accor­ding to a market study by Gart­ner, global spen­ding on public clouds will increase by 17.5% to 725 billion dollars (approx. EUR 680 billion) by next year. Spen­ding on cloud infra­struc­tures is the fastest growing market segment.

Vault­Speed was laun­ched four years ago with an initial invest­ment of Cronos Group and Fort­ino Capi­tal in Belgium and has comple­tely trans­for­med data trans­for­ma­tion: Vault­Speed not only hand­les the comple­xity of data through trans­for­ma­tion, but also conso­li­da­tes data into a compre­hen­sive target data model that data engi­neers can custo­mize to their needs in days and weeks, unlike tradi­tio­nal methods.

Vault­Speed alre­ady offers its auto­ma­tion solu­ti­ons to global compa­nies, espe­ci­ally in the finan­cial, health­care and utili­ties sectors. The company has ente­red into stra­te­gic part­ner­ships with Snow­flake, Micro­soft and Datab­ricks and has built a network of over 30 service part­ners to serve custo­mers globally.

“All data teams want to increase produc­ti­vity and agility. We auto­mate every step of their cloud data warehouse or lake­house: from setup to main­ten­ance and beyond,” explains Piet De Windt, CEO and co-foun­der of Vault­Speed. “We are deligh­ted to be working with Octo­pus Ventures, where they have supported our goal of revo­lu­tio­ni­zing the cloud data market from the very begin­ning. With this funding, we aim to triple our reve­nue by 2025.”

Paul David­son, Part­ner at Octo­pus Ventures (Photo © Octo­pus Ventures): “Data warehouse auto­ma­tion is incre­asingly repla­cing conven­tio­nal approa­ches to crea­ting data warehou­ses that are beco­ming inef­fec­tive and outda­ted. Vault­Speed has deve­lo­ped a code-free auto­ma­tion plat­form. We believe it is a first class answer to the chal­lenges of modern data science, where busi­ness intel­li­gence or analy­tics projects often need to be done in a matter of hours rather than months. We are deligh­ted to be working with Piet and Dirk, who are execu­ting their vision for their solu­tion well so far. We are confi­dent that we can help them acce­le­rate their ambi­tious inter­na­tio­nal expan­sion plans.”

Marcel van der Heij­den, Part­ner at Fort­ino Capi­tal“We are deligh­ted to conti­nue to support Piet De Windt, Dirk Vermei­ren and their team in their mission to push the boun­da­ries of auto­ma­tion, which has weathe­red the pande­mic and beyond and conti­nues to thrive as it trans­forms the produc­ti­vity of data teams. A must-have in the current AI era.”

“Vault­Speed is at the fore­front and will use the proceeds to main­tain its compe­ti­tive advan­tage. We are just begin­ning to tap into the huge poten­tial of auto­ma­tion in the cloud data warehouse and lake­house market. For exam­ple, we are explo­ring how AI and abstrac­tion can further revo­lu­tio­nize auto­ma­tion and deli­very of target data models,” explai­ned Dirk Vermei­ren, CTO and co-foun­der of VaultSpeed. ”

Roald Borré, Group Mana­ger Equity Invest­ments at PMV: “Auto­ma­ting data migra­tion to cloud envi­ron­ments is a key cata­lyst for digi­tiz­ing busi­nesses. PMV is exci­ted to support Vault­Speed in its rapid growth towards beco­ming a leader in the data space. The combi­na­tion of the team’s talent and addi­tio­nal funding is the perfect recipe for contin­ued success.”

Ben Kolada and Eddie Harding from ICON Corpo­rate Financewho acted as advi­sors on the tran­sac­tion, added: “We are very proud to have advi­sed Piet and the Vault­Speed team on this trans­for­ma­tive funding round. VaultSpeed’s rapid expan­sion clearly demons­tra­tes that the advan­ced auto­ma­tion capa­bi­li­ties of VaultSpeed’s data trans­for­ma­tion plat­form are exactly what the market demands. In addi­tion, Octo­pus Ventures, with its exten­sive indus­try expe­ri­ence and broad inter­na­tio­nal network, is the perfect part­ner for VaultSpeed’s next phase of growth.”

About Vault­Speed
Vault­Speed is the prefer­red solu­tion of leading compa­nies for auto­ma­ted data trans­for­ma­tion. By combi­ning auto­ma­tion templa­tes, a graphi­cal user inter­face for data mode­ling and a meta­data repo­si­tory in a single plat­form, Vault­Speed enables orga­niza­ti­ons to better deploy and main­tain their cloud data warehou­ses or lake­hou­ses. Vault­Speed has offices in London, Seat­tle, Leuven and Vilnius and coope­ra­tes with compa­nies such as HDI, Olym­pus, Euro­con­trol and Bleckmann.
www.vaultspeed.com

About Octo­pus Ventures

Octo­pus Ventures is one of the largest and most active venture capi­ta­lists in the UK and conti­nen­tal Europe. The company invests in and supports people, ideas and indus­tries that are chan­ging the world. Octo­pus Ventures has acqui­red exper­tise in seven sectors: B2B soft­ware, climate tech, consu­mer tech, deep tech, fintech, biotech and healthcare.
Octo­pus Ventures supports over 180 compa­nies in the UK and conti­nen­tal Europe, inclu­ding highly successful ones such as Zoopla, Wave­Op­tics and Depop. Octo­pus Ventures invests in people and teams — from the idea on a piece of paper to the later growth phases — and provi­des capi­tal, know-how and part­ner­ships. The company mana­ges GBP 1.9 billion (approx. EUR 2.2 billion) for private and insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors and invests GBP 200 million (approx. EUR 230 million) annu­ally. Octo­pus Ventures is part of Octo­pus Invest­ments, an invest­ment company that invests in people, ideas and indus­tries that will change the world. www.octopusventures.com.

About Fort­ino Capital

Fort­ino Capi­tal is a Euro­pean invest­ment company specia­li­zing in high-growth B2B soft­ware solu­ti­ons, mana­ging two private equity growth and two venture capi­tal funds. With offices in Belgium, the Nether­lands and Germany, Fort­ino supports excep­tio­nal and ambi­tious entre­pre­neurs in Europe. Fortino’s venture capi­tal port­fo­lio includes Vertuoza (BE), Tech­Wolf (BE), Timeseer.ai (BE), Zaion (FR), Salon­kee (LUX), Sides (DE), D2X (NL), Peers (DE) and Kosli (NO). Fort­ino Capital’s private equity growth port­fo­lio includes VanRoey (BE), Bizz­Mine (BE), Mobil­eX­pense (BE), Efficy CRM (BE), Tenzin­ger (NL), SpeakUp (NL), Ceno­sco (NL), Maxx­ton (NL), Star­dekk (BE) and Boni­ta­soft (FR). www.fortinocapital.com

About PMV

As an invest­ment company, PMV shapes a sustainable Flemish economy, the engine of our prospe­rity and well-being. We coope­rate with ambi­tious compa­nies and projects that focus on social impact and finan­cial return. PMV finan­ces promi­sing compa­nies from zero hour to growth and inter­na­tio­na­liza­tion. The company offers custo­mi­zed finan­cial solu­ti­ons in the form of capi­tal, loans and guaran­tees to all entre­pre­neurs with a good busi­ness plan and a strong manage­ment team. With and for the govern­ment and other part­ners, PMV also reali­zes important projects for the prospe­rity and well-being of Fland­ers. PMV mana­ges a port­fo­lio worth EUR 1.7 billion. www.pmv.eu/en

About BNP PARIBAS Fortis Private Equity

BNP Pari­bas Fortis Private Equity, the venture capi­tal arm of BNP Pari­bas Fortis, has been active in the Belgian private equity market since the 1980s. BNP Pari­bas Fortis Private Equity is curr­ently acqui­ring mino­rity share­hol­dings and provi­ding mezza­nine finan­cing to high-performing medium-sized compa­nies. BNP Pari­bas Fortis Private Equity also invests in specia­li­zed venture capi­tal and private equity funds in the Belgian market. BNP Pari­bas Fortis Private Equity has direct invest­ments in Studio 100, Konings, eTheRNA, Hanne­card, Quality Assis­tance and PointChaud.

About Cronos Group

At Cronos Groep, we combine entre­pre­neur­ship with a passion for inno­va­tion. Our tech­no­lo­gi­cal exper­tise is used not only to create oppor­tu­ni­ties, but also to promote growth and bring visio­nary ideas to life. We actively invest in start-ups, incu­bate promi­sing concepts and provide the resour­ces, mento­ring and know-how for their success. With the entre­pre­neu­rial spirit embedded in our DNA, we strive to create a future where inno­va­tion and human progress go hand in hand. https://cronos-groep.be/

About ICON CORPORATE FINANCE

ICON has offices in London, Bris­tol and San Fran­cisco and specia­li­zes inter­na­tio­nally in mergers and acqui­si­ti­ons and capi­tal raising. The company works closely with the global M&A, venture capi­tal, private equity and CVC commu­ni­ties. ICON has advi­sed on exits for compa­nies such as Accen­ture, Crayon, Aptean, IQVIA, Aviva, NTT, Syniti and Tels­tra and reali­zed capi­tal raisings with JP Morgan, Synova, BGF, YFM, Mobeus and Moodys. His indus­try exper­tise includes AI & Data­Tech, FinTech, Cyber, Health­Tech, Digi­tal Media, Enab­ling­Tech, Enter­prise Soft­ware and Mana­ged Services.