Washington, D.C. and Luxembourg – April 5, 2017 – Paladin Capital Group is pleased to announce the initial closing of its European Cyber Fund based in Luxembourg, with commitments side-by-side from the European Investment Fund and Luxembourg Future Fund.
The fund, which will invest in cyber security companies throughout Europe and the globe, is managed by Paladin Capital Group, one of the world’s leading investors in this sector.
“As part of this investment, Paladin, with its worldwide national security and specialized competence experts, will work closely with the Luxembourg government in developing a world class cyber center to attract the best and the brightest investors, educators, innovators and entrepreneurs to Luxembourg, “ said Michael Steed, Managing Partner and Founder of Paladin. “Luxembourg’s vision will lead the EU in these efforts,” he said.
Luxembourg’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy Etienne Schneider commented: “For a country building its economic strength on ICT, cybersecurity is an essential asset to its economic attractiveness. Top-flight expertise in this field has therefore already been for many years central to the process aiming to keep Luxembourg’s position as leading Trusted Data Hub in Europe. The highly promising public private partnership between the EIF, Luxembourg Future Fund and Paladin Capital Group will fit in well alongside our national initiatives like the Cybersecurity Competence Centre C3 which the ministry of the economy will launch together with SECURITYMADEIN.LU and its partners to provide threat intelligence, cybersecurity skills and know-how, as well as training and testing facilities to the vibrant and fast growing smart economy in areas like the Internet of Things, space technologies, FinTech and autonomous driving.”
EIF Chief Executive, Pier Luigi Gilibert, said: “EIF is pleased to be working with an experienced player in the ICT sector, allowing us to support companies working in the cyber security field. Paladin Capital Group’s expertise in this domain, coupled with our track record in supporting over 500 funds across Europe, will help start-ups active in the cybersecurity space to access a sufficient level of capital to develop and grow.”
Paladin, with offices in Europe and the US, will work closely with governments, universities, research and development companies and entrepreneurs in identifying technologies and services which will reduce the digital vulnerabilities that nation states, cyber criminals and disenchanted persons attempt to perpetrate against a country’s critical infrastructure. The European Cyber Fund will join Paladin’s US and affiliated cyber funds in this effort, bringing additional investment capital into Europe.
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About EIF
EIF’s central mission is to support Europe’s small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance. To this end, it aims at satisfying existing and future market needs by designing innovative financial products addressed to its partners (banks, guarantee, leasing and microfinance institutions, private equity and venture capital funds, among others), acting as its financial intermediaries.
By offering an Integrated Risk Finance Product Range of SME finance to our intermediaries, it complements the products offered by the European Investment Bank (EIB) with which it forms the EIB Group.
About LFF
The Luxembourg Future Fund is a EUR 150 million fund which aims to stimulate the diversification and sustainable development of the Luxembourgish economy. It was set up by the EIF and the Société Nationale de Crédit et d’Investissement (SNCI) and combines a EUR 120 million contribution from SNCI with EUR 30 million from the EIF, to be deployed over a five year period. It will invest and co-invest directly or indirectly in early and growth innovative European technology SMEs as well as in Venture Capital funds to foster the sustainable development of Luxembourg strategic sectors (i.e. companies active in the ICT, Cleantech and other technology sectors excluding health technologies and life science sectors).
About Paladin Capital Group
Paladin Capital Group was founded in 2001 and has offices in Washington DC, Silicon Valley, New York, and London. It is a worldwide leader in investments in cyber and digital infrastructure resilience, having completed over 40 cyber related transactions over the last decade. As a multi-stage investor, Paladin focuses on best-of-breed companies with technologies, products, and services that meet the challenging global cyber security and digital infrastructure needs for governments and commercial enterprises. Since Paladin’s inception, more than $1 billion have been committed across multiple funds and investment vehicles. Follow the firm on Twitter @Paladincap, visit our website at www.paladincapgroup.com
Contact:
Mark Maloney
+1 202.595.2963