Buoyed by a booming market and the continuing trust of investors and customers, DATA4 has just completed a significant fund-raising campaign to support its strong ambitions. The Group’s objective is to accelerate its international growth strategy and double its revenues by 2024 in order to consolidate its position as the European leader in data centers.
In the context of the current pandemic, the importance of data storage is under the spotlight as the lockdown period has seen a sharp increase of teleworking and e-commerce, both of which are accelerating already dominant structural trends. To sustain this evolutive society, the data center is all the more crucial, considered as the keystone of the digital economy.
Indeed, data centers are state-of-the-art, ultra-connected and secure digital infrastructures that meet businesses’ data-hosting needs in terms of digital transformation and connectivity. In this context, DATA4 has just completed a major round of financing from a pool of investors led by AXA IM – Real Assets, illustrating the desire of shareholders to play an active role in the digital transformation by supporting the development of data centers.
This fund-raising represents an important milestone for the company, as Olivier Micheli, Chairman of the DATA4 Group, said: “We are delighted with the confidence and unwavering support of AXA IM – Real Assets, which has enabled us to accelerate our growth over the last few years. Thanks to their continued support, DATA4 will take a major step forward in its development. Our objective is clear: to double our revenues within 5 years and consolidate our position as the leading native European data center player. DATA4 is ideally positioned to benefit from the growth of the sector in its existing markets and internationally. Already committed to an eco-responsible approach, we will continue to invest in parallel to develop intelligent buildings, and bring more and more innovation to our customers.”
Although DATA4 has experienced strong growth over the last three years, with a 50% increase in turnover and a customer portfolio that has increased fivefold, the Group does not intend to stop there and plans to invest 650 million euros in 5 years, as part of an eco-responsible approach.
DATA4 plans to expand its current campuses (19 data centers already operational in France, Luxembourg, Italy and Spain) which provide its customers with high-performance, secure and environmentally friendly data-hosting solutions, and to build 23 new data centers. The Group is also seeking to expand its footprint internationally, particularly in Germany, Central Europe and Scandinavia. DATA4 plans to deploy more than 650 million euros of investment over the next 5 years for its international development and innovation, the same amount as deployed over the past 13 years.
Finally, in terms of innovation, DATA4 is part of a cutting-edge and eco-responsible approach. All intelligent buildings or “smart data centers” are designed to guarantee operational excellence but also to optimize energy consumption and the resources used. The Group constantly strives to reduce the ecological footprint of its business by working on a number of initiatives, including a guarantee that 100% of the electricity consumed in its data centers corresponds to 100% of electricity from renewable sources injected into the local supplier’s electricity grid.
DATA4 goes even further with its tailor-made Smart DC offering, which helps raise awareness among business customers about the environmental impact of their infrastructure and data. Performance and environmental indicators (temperature, hygrometry, water and energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions) allow them to monitor the environmental footprint of their hosting space and equipment in real time, with the aim of adopting more sustainable practices.
Today, DATA4 is proud to be able to count on all of its investors to fulfil its mission as a key player in the data center market in Europe by pursuing its growth and investing in cutting-edge technologies designed to meet today’s environmental challenges.
