WISeKey International Holding L announced Thursday that it has entered into a Letter of Intent (“LoI”) to acquire QV Holdings Ltd (“QuoVadis”), a vendor of managed Public Key Infrastructure (mPKI) domiciled in Hamilton, Bermuda with operating activities in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Bermuda.
The integration of WISekey and QuoVadis, which follows the acquisition of VaultIC Semiconductors in September this year, will further reinforce the WISeKey Vertical Platform, enabling it to provide crucial authentication, identity, and integrity for electronic transactions for the rapidly growing spheres of eIDAS and Internet of Things (IoT).
This transaction will bring key synergies to WISekey with the large recurring customer base of QuoVadis’ proven Trust/Link and sealsign technologies; in-depth operations experience running multiple secure and high-availability trustcentre environments under strict accreditation regimes; and adept sales and support teams based in important customer markets, including Switzerland.
WISeKey and QuoVadis intend to pursue reciprocal due diligence and negotiate definitive agreements, with the objective of signing of a binding transaction agreement by mid-February 2017 and closing in the first quarter of next year.
QuoVadis is a global Certification Authority (CA) providing Trust/Link managed PKI services, including digital certificates for TLS/SSL and a wide variety of end entity uses including eID/authentication, encryption, and digital signature. QuoVadis also provides both on-premises and cloud-based solutions for sealsign electronic signature and roaming certificates, as well as trusted time-stamping.
QuoVadis has particular strength serving enterprise customers, with more than 300 large cap and 3000 overall customers worldwide including across Europe, the United States, and Australia. For FY2016, QuoVadis expects USD 17 million of revenues and USD 3.5 million of EBITDA. For FY2017, revenues in excess of USD 20 million and EBITDA of USD 7 million are projected on a stand-alone basis.
QuoVadis is an established Qualified Trust Services Provider (TSP) both in the European Union under the eIDAS regulation for eID and electronic transactions and in Switzerland under ZertES, with significant experience in eID including the Dutch PKIoverheid and eHerkenning and the Swiss SuisseID programs.
QuoVadis is a TSP accredited in multiple countries with real operations on the ground, balancing services to both the public sector and the corporate markets.
The ability to authenticate and remotely manage millions of networked, automated devices and equipment is becoming pervasive − from the factory floor, to the hospital operating room, to the residential home − everything, from refrigerators, watches, wearables to wine bottles, is connecting and communicating via the Internet.
The Internet of Things security market is expected to grow from USD 6.89 billion in 2015 to nearly USD 29 billion by 2020, according to a report published by Markets and Markets, growing at an annual rate of 35 percent. These massively deployed connected objects are facing regular attacks hence generating a large need for trusted end-to-end cybersecurity solutions.
