00:07:13 · Gianni Cuozzo
[00:07:13] S1: you know, elite hacker, let's call it this way, even though I do not... I don't like this labeling, but let's call it just that that way. With the rise of foundational model that actually are able to attack and execute full full full attack chain on those systems, the cost of those attack is going very down. So it's not going to zero yet, but the tend... The tendency is that those attack going to zero. And, of course, physical attacks are more dangerous than what's happening in, you know, if somebody stole the password of your database is, of course, a problem, but if somebody shut down the lighting system of an airport, it's a much bigger problem. So... And because we are sitting exactly on being the first line of defense between happened in the physical world and what happened in digital world, of course, was a huge push for us. And third is what's happening from a geopolitical geopolitical side. Unluckily, we are living in a very strange times, which I hope regardless of the push of our... For my company that, you know, the world would be a safer place, but what we are starting to see right now with what's happening in Ukraine, what's happening in The Middle East is that cybersecurity and cyber warfare, especially on physical system, it's a thing, and will be much more a thing in the future. So those three mega trends are... Is helping Exein grow very fast. We are growing 400% year on year since three years now, which of course is pushing both our valuation, but also our expansion plan very, very future, and this is why we are doing this round. We also, you know, this round was particularly oversubscribed, so we had to close the race at certain ticket because otherwise the investor keeping flowing in, so we were very happy about that. And, you know, it's also nice to see a European cybersecurity company reaching this global level of footprint, which is very important, I guess.
00:09:18 · Sebastian Johnson
[00:09:18] S0: And then let... You know, you talk about being oversubscribed. That's an amazing problem to have. Can you touch a bit on the investors that you chose to get on board with and why you chose them?
00:09:28 · Gianni Cuozzo
[00:09:28] S1: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, chose to partner with Headline first because they were very fast, because we were not planning to raise this round. So when you are not planning to raise the round, first thing you want is an investor that can move fast and doesn't lose your time, you know, because if you don't need money or you don't want to raise money in the first place, the last thing you want is to get involved in, you know, calls, investor call, and others. So we really appreciate the fast moving space that they had, and also the network that Headline brings. Headline is a US European fund with a lot of LPs in the automation space and stuff, so most of the LPs that are begging LP, most probably already working with Exein, so they had ease to have, you know, cross reference of how important this technology was, especially for the embedded space. It's of course a particular space, it's, you know, traditional cybersecurity is mostly happening on code security, network security, endpoints, traditional endpoint security. So for new investors already, it's always complex to find cross reference about how important this problem is, because they don't have network to move in that sense. When you find an investor that has network through their LP or through their personal connection, things evolve very quickly. And so we really appreciate the the the the fast moving on that side. And also, we were investigating a new technology, and we knew that if not racing now, but racing in one year will, of course, something that was on our plan, so we decided to... We see the movement, we decided to race now, and we appreciated the the fast moving of Headline and all the investors that are Sofina, Goldman Sachs, and the other that invested in this round. And therefore, we decided to pull the trigger, and also we are very grateful also for all previous investor that they all joining in this round, which actually show that they were particularly happy with how the company was executing. And of course, our focus now is about execution, bringing new technology to the market and providing and continue our M and A strategy.
00:11:49 · Sebastian Johnson, Gianni Cuozzo
[00:11:49] S0: And talk to me a bit about your expansion plans, so you've seen huge success in the APAC region, I think it now consists of 50% of your revenue. Yeah. As part of this new raise, think you're looking to expand in the West Coast, maybe even open an office in San Francisco? [00:12:01] S1: Yes, exactly. I mean, because we are moving in the physicalized space, we we want to be close where things happen, as you as you can imagine, and, you know, California is a a nice place for us for two reasons. First, because you have down the valley, you have all the chipset manufacturer that are involved in this transitioning, and in the Bay Area, you have also the foundational labs and also the company that are building on the physical AI layer for that. So we are opening an office in San Francisco to be close as this. We already have operation in US, but we are expanding this operation, and also we are looking for an M and A here in US, so, you know, we will be announcing pretty soon our major operation here. [00:12:45] S0: Amazing, yeah. I was interested about the M and A strategy side of things. What are you looking to buy? Is it product? Is it talent? Is it distribution? When you're assessing M and A opportunities, what's really important for you?
00:12:45 · Sebastian Johnson, Gianni Cuozzo
[00:12:45] S0: Amazing, yeah. I was interested about the M and A strategy side of things. What are you looking to buy? Is it product? Is it talent? Is it distribution? When you're assessing M and A opportunities, what's really important for you? [00:12:56] S1: I mean, I think right now, it's a little bit of a combination outside of tech, because we are particularly strong in technology development. I mean, this has been one of the, you know, top of the spear for for Exein for years because all of the technology... We are not dependent by anyone. Everything that is is part of the technology that we build is in a house is managed by us, so we are not depending by anybody... Anyone in that sense. What we are looking for is mostly talent and distribution. And of course, because right now we're living in a very fast paced market, and if you wait to build the distribution, it may be too... It take too long. Therefore, when you find a target that has the right amount of distribution, also the right amount of talent, because right now we are in a talent war and everybody's fighting for talent, you're trying to buy them, you know, and to expand. Sometimes you also buy new product that can complete the product offering that you have with your... For your customer, maybe company that you're already partnered with so that you can expand and better control what you can provide to your customers.
00:12:56 · Gianni Cuozzo, Sebastian Johnson
[00:12:56] S1: I mean, I think right now, it's a little bit of a combination outside of tech, because we are particularly strong in technology development. I mean, this has been one of the, you know, top of the spear for for Exein for years because all of the technology... We are not dependent by anyone. Everything that is is part of the technology that we build is in a house is managed by us, so we are not depending by anybody... Anyone in that sense. What we are looking for is mostly talent and distribution. And of course, because right now we're living in a very fast paced market, and if you wait to build the distribution, it may be too... It take too long. Therefore, when you find a target that has the right amount of distribution, also the right amount of talent, because right now we are in a talent war and everybody's fighting for talent, you're trying to buy them, you know, and to expand. Sometimes you also buy new product that can complete the product offering that you have with your... For your customer, maybe company that you're already partnered with so that you can expand and better control what you can provide to your customers. [00:14:09] S0: And you... You've been on this amazing journey round after round, extreme revenue growth. Now looking forward to sort of exploring new frontiers or doubling down on some new frontiers, whether it's physical AI, but also the West Coast Of America. Looking forward, six, twelve, eighteen months, what have you got to get right? Or what have you got to do to feel like you've been a success in the next year?