Infinigate Group names two new executives to lead €1.5 billion growth drive

Julien Antoine joins as Chief Business Development Officer and Andreas Bechtold is promoted to Chief Revenue Officer, to focus on EMEA cloud and subscription business

Zurich, Switzerland, October 28th, 2021 – The Infinigate Group, a leading European Value Added Distributor (VAD), of cybersecurity solutions has today named two new leaders who will be jointly responsible for its plans to achieve a €1.5 billion revenue target by 2024.

Julien Antoine, a seasoned executive of the security and distribution business, joins as Chief Business Development Officer, and industry veteran Andreas Bechtold is promoted to Chief Revenue Officer.

Jointly, they will work on Infinigate’s cloud and subscription business across EMEA, leading an aggressive, high growth strategy focused on organic growth and acquisitions.

The executive team appointments are a key part of the company’s plans to further strengthen its position as a leading Value Added Distributor in Europe.

Julien has held executive positions at Exclusive Networks VAD, where he was EVP Strategy and Operations and VP EMEA. He was also part of A.T. Kearney’s management consulting team.

Andreas has more than 20 years of experience in the channel, having joined Infinigate in 2000. He has been responsible for sales management in the Infinigate Group since March 2021 having previously headed up EVP Vendor Management and Value Add Services and led the DACH operations as Regional Vice President.

“Our 25% organic growth rate and record 750 million euros in revenue shows that we have an attractive offering for our vendors and customers. Our unique approach of customer centricity, digitization and subscription focus is clearly paying off” said Klaus Schlichtherle, CEO of the Infinigate Group.

“Combining Andreas and Julien’s experience is a critical asset in building a unique position as the EMEA leader of VAD and subscription business with a dedicated focus on helping our partners to grow faster.

“Julien is a successful leader with an impressive track record and strong entrepreneurial mindset. His expertise in transforming companies, scaling business and his vision on subscription and cloud will be instrumental to our growth journey.”

Commenting on his appointment, Andreas Bechtold said, “Infinigate is a pan-European VAD and we aim to achieve a leadership position in all the countries in which we are represented. In the coming months we will dedicate time, resources and money to expand our geographical coverage and intensify the teamwork with our partners.”

Julien said: “I am thrilled to join such a fantastic venture. Infinigate is clearly driven by doing the right things for its people and its partners and is always strengthening its own value-added proposal. The team has done a fantastic job, and the organization is very well structured. Now we can build further and tackle all the growth opportunities, be it organic or through M&A.

“I am really excited to join the Infinigate crew and I look forward to helping our vendors and resellers by disrupting what value-added services means.”

Infinigate Group, the pan-European value-added distributor (VAD) of Cyber Security solutions today announced the intended acquisition of Nuvias Group’s Cyber Security and Secure Networking business to create a pan-European Cyber Security powerhouse.

Woking, UK– 5 July 2022 – The merging of the two highly successful businesses establishes Infinigate’s place as a leading VAD focused on Cyber Security in Europe with an anticipated 1.4 billion Euro in revenue. Subject to regulatory approval, closing is expected in the fourth quarter. 

This acquisition will create a platform of continued above-market growth in EMEA, bolstering Infinigate’s leadership position in Europe across Cyber Security, Secure Networking and Secure Cloud, serving the SMB to Enterprise and Service Provider market segments. Due to increased relevance, larger geographical footprint, and extended vendor portfolio, Infinigate aims to continue to grow annually by more than 20%. 

Founded by Rigby Private Equity in 2015, the Nuvias Group has a strong heritage in VAD, having begun its original trading journey 45 years ago. It specialises in Cyber Security and Intelligent Networking with a range of innovative services and solutions designed to secure customer success and accelerate partner and vendor growth.  

Infinigate Group has a track record of consistent year-on-year growth since its foundation in 1996 – something it attributes to its distinct customer-centric approach. The union of the two VADs will combine the best of both worlds. 

Klaus Schlichtherle, CEO of Infinigate Group said: “Infinigate will become even more relevant and powerful. We will have a stronger geographical footprint, especially in the core markets in Europe – where we will have a strong position in 18 countries. Our complementary vendor portfolios will create a huge opportunity for growth. And bringing together so many skilled people will enable us to create lots of new development opportunities in a fast-growing company. Infinigate will continue to be an exciting place to be for key value add talent and a place to develop competencies, careers and opportunities.” 

Simon England, CEO of the Nuvias Group said: “We are excited about joining forces and combining our assets to take the business and teams into the next phase of growth and expansion. Both companies value their people as their most critical asset, and the key to rewarding customer and vendor experiences in specialist distribution.” 

Infinigate Group and Nuvias Group both have leading portfolios in Cyber Security for the SMB sector – which will further accelerate growth. Both companies are VADs with excellent services, offering best-in-class-services (training, pre-sales, support, etc.) for customers and vendors. And having both specialised in Cyber Security, Secure Networking and Secure Cloud for decades, their alliance represents an exceptionally high competence and expertise. Combined, they will gain even better customer access and will be able to further strengthen customer relationships. 

“After closing the transaction, we aim to continue to grow the joint enterprise by more than 20% annually, and we will continue to address existing as well as new customers in a coordinated fashion. Nuvias and Infinigate have very similar strategies moving forward and will constantly stay focused on this,” explained Schlichtherle. 

The acquisition will significantly upgrade the presence of Infinigate Group in UK, France, Benelux and Nordics territory, as well as covering Southern Europe and entering the market in Eastern Europe. Infinigate’s strong base in Germany and Nuvias’ in the UK is an example of the complementary portfolios. And additionally, Nuvias Group brings its enterprise customer segment. 

Infinigate Group will serve its extended base of vendors with upgraded relevance, best-in-class execution and an enhanced digital platform for further innovation and growth and improve its performance. 

The Unified Communications business of Nuvias Group (Nuvias UC) is not part of the transaction and will be a separate entity under the continued ownership of Rigby Group. Rigby Private Equity will be a shareholder in the Infinigate Group. 

About Nuvias Group

The Nuvias Group is the fast-growing European next generation distributor with a broad range of innovative services and solutions designed to secure customer success and accelerate partner and vendor growth. In collaboration with leading technology suppliers, we specialise in providing security, agility and manageability for clients, networks and cloud technology solutions through an ecosystem of highly skilled Channel partners. Discover more at www.Nuvias.com.   

For further information, please contact: 

Orietta Sutherberry
+44 (0)7741 149 367
orietta.sutherberry@nuvias.com