Paris-based defence specialist Thales announced on Tuesday that it has acquired OneWelcome, a Dutch customer identity and access management platform, for €100M. The acquisition is a part of its cybersecurity expansion strategy and strengthens its position as a global cybersecurity player.
The acquisition will enable Thales to offer a comprehensive identity platform, allowing organisations of all sizes to manage internal and external identities.
Post the acquisition, OneWelcome will join Thales Digital Identity and Security global business unit. The deal is expected to be completed during the second half of 2022.
OneWelcome: What you need to know
Based out of Amersfoort, OneWelcome provides cloud-based customer identity and access management for highly regulated industries, enabling them to securely connect customers as well as business partners to their online services.
As of now, the Dutch company says it protects millions of European identities for lighthouse customers like Malakoff Humanis, PostNL, and the European Central Bank.
OneWelcome ensures that it grants users greater control of their information and data across any platform or application as it helps manage their password and consent preferences.
The company employs 100+ people and customers across Europe. OneWelcome is also experiencing a 30 per cent year-on-year growth.
Danny de Vreeze, CEO of OneWelcome, says, “Customer Identity – or CIAM – is a solution tailored for any organisation with a digital presence that needs to securely manage external identities and provide intuitive access to their online services. We have a state-of-the-art service that is used by European customers to connect and protect millions of users. Our highly motivated team is thrilled to expand our product leadership into new markets using the global reach of Thales.”
Thales: What you need to know
Based out of Paris, Thales is a global leader in advanced technologies, investing in digital and “deep techs” innovations such as connectivity, big data, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and quantum computing.
The Group provides its customers – businesses, organisations, and governments – in the defence, aeronautics, space, transport, and digital identity and security domains with solutions, services, and products that help them fulfil their critical role.
In 2022, the French company plans to hire 11,000 people worldwide, including 1,000 in cybersecurity.
Philippe Vallée, Executive Vice-President, Digital Identity and Security at Thales, says “The acquisition of OneWelcome is fully aligned with our expansion strategy within the cybersecurity space. OneWelcome’s talents and expertise in customer identity and access management complement and strengthens our authentication and data privacy portfolio as well as our plan to provide a trusted and frictionless digital experience. Nowadays, as we see a rapid increase in the amount of data, cloud migrations, and new compliance mandates, it’s essential to offer secure, adaptive, and convenient solutions that help our customers in both the private and public sectors to classify, protect, and control the access to their sensitive data regardless of where it resides.”
