Bryan, Garnier & Co advises Devialet on a €100 million growth equity private placement
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London/Paris/Munich, November 29th, 2016 – Bryan, Garnier & Co advises Devialet – a developer of breakthrough technologies and products for the audio industry – on a €100 million equity fundraising underwritten by new internationally renowned, financial and industrial investors.
Devialet was founded in 2007 with the long-term vision of shaking up the audio industry with unique technologies. Since then, it has built a portfolio of over 100 patents and doubled sales every year. With this exceptional funding round in size and quality, Devialet will be able to pursue its ambitious and global strategic plan with the ultimate goal of embedding its technologies into any audio device worldwide. In the short term, Devialet will extend its brand to customers in automotive, TV and IoT (Internet of things) markets, expand distribution networks and enhance R&D capabilities.
Bryan, Garnier & Co’s Partner and Head of Technology, Olivier Beaudouin added: “Early on, we identified Devialet as a disruptive category leader in the audio industry spanning the whole technology spectrum, including Asic and micro-electronic design, digital signal processing algorithms as well as acoustics. We have supported them since 2010 and built a trusted relationship with management and shareholders. We are delighted of the outcome of this round, which will give the company the financial and operational means to deliver further on their plans to become the reference audio tech company worldwide.”
According to Quentin Sannié, Co-founder and CEO of Devialet, “This fundraising marks a new phase in our development towards becoming a global brand and leader of the audio industry. Bryan, Garnier & Co did an outstanding job, demonstrating a deep understanding of our strategy and needs, true global investor reach, with a strong control on the transaction process, from preparation to marketing and negotiations. Most important, they constantly guided us with sound advice and showed a consistent and indefectible commitment to the success of the transaction.”
The fundraising process, which was launched in the early summer raised massive interest from a broad range of financial and strategic investors around the globe. The selected investor syndicate reflects the company’s objective to gather complementary investors providing insights, support and networks in key target geographies (US, Europe, Middle-East and Asia) and industries (automotive, television, consumer electronic devices). Devialet is one of the very few companies in Europe that has managed to attract more than €100m of capital from new investors in a single late-stage growth round during 2016.
Greg Revenu, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Bryan, Garnier & Co: “The level of interest we gathered in Europe and throughout the world illustrates the ability for the most promising European companies to fund ambitious growth strategies and become global leaders. Over the past 36 months, Bryan Garnier has led 20 private growth placements, amongst which two exceeded €100 million. Pioneering the late-stage European private placements market in the 90s, we have developed, over the years, global investor access and transaction experience. This allows us to maximize the probability and optimize the conditions of the fundraisings while bringing the ideal investors base to match our client’s strategic goals”.
The round is led by a consortium managed by Ginko Ventures, a European venture capital fund backed by Foxconn, the leading electronics group and historical manufacturing partner of Apple. It also includes Playground Global, a Palo Alto based IoT focused venture fund founded by Andy Rubin, the inventor of Android OS, as well as Foxconn Interconnect Technology (FIT).
The main co-investors include leading Korean digital media group Naver and the European venture fund Korelya it is backing, as well as:
• FFC, a vehicle co-funded by the Qatar Investment Authority and CDC International;
• CMC-CIC technology investment arm;
• and the Large Venture department of Bpifrance, the French sovereign investment group.
Industrial co-investors include:
• the world’s 3rd largest car manufacturer Renault-Nissan;
• leading Japanese consumer electronic Sharp;
• as well as Roc Nation, the American media production company founded by Jay Z.
Ginko’s founder and former Nokia SVP Jean-François Baril, as well as Korelya’s founder and former French minister, Fleur Pellerin, will be appointed to the board of Devialet; FFC and CM-CIC joining as non-voting members.
Devialet Advisors:
Investment Bank – Bryan, Garnier & Co: Greg Revenu, Olivier Beaudouin, Pierre Lafitte, Amina Sagou, Clément Decante
Financial Advisors – PwC Transaction Services: David Willems, Nicolas Veillepeau, Sophie Brunot, Clémence Chauvin, Jean-Baptiste Veyre
Tax Advisors – PwC Société d’Avocats: Xavier Etienne, Xavier Sotillos Jaime
Company Legal Advisors – Jones Day: Renaud Bonnet, Alexandre Wibaux
Management Legal Advisors – Hoche Cabinet d’Avocats: Laurent Bensaid
About Devialet
Founded in 2007 and based in Paris, Devialet is the premier start-up in the world for the excellence of its inventions in the sound field, with 107 patents and 61 international awards. Devialet is a rapidly expanding company with, today, 230 employees. It doubles its turnover every year. Among its historical investors, it has Bernard Arnault, Jacques-Antoine Granjon, Xavier Niel et Marc Simoncini.
Hailed by all the experts and awarded by the most demanding of international magazines, the start-up is present in the very exclusive stores that are Colette, Harrods, and Kadewe in Berlin. The revolutionary connected speaker Phantom has been commercialized in Apple Store since December 2015.
With its place as a leader only 5 years after the launch of the first D-Premier speaker, the brand has been able to keep true to its initial values, dear to the heart of its 3 founders, the engineer Pierre-Emmanuel Calmel, the visionary entrepreneur Quentin Sannié and the super designer Emmanuel Nardin. The Enlightenment Philosophy, that is to say, the scientific progress that makes a man better is at the heart of this story. Success has indeed been possible thanks to the succession of radical inventions in sound engineering, of which the ADH intelligence – the revolutionary technology that transformed the amplification of sound by enabling the hybrid mix of digital and analogue electronics. 70 acoustician engineers, mechanics, electricians, and IT engineers in signal processing, the best in their field of specialization, work every day at Devialet’s to invent the sound technologies of the future.
About Ginko Ventures
Founded in 2015, Ginko Ventures is a venture capital Firm targeting technologies, devices and solutions that will improve the way people work, play and live. We primarily focus on investments in European and Israeli companies whose technologies have the potential to access global markets rapidly. Together with our limited partner Foxconn, we are also keen on creating tangible industrial leverage for our portfolio companies. Our mission is to enable a sustainable partnership between industry leaders and amazing entrepreneurs for disruptive innovations and superior value creation.