ielo, the French neutral operator for fiber infrastructures, announces a €208m structured funding package from leading international banks including NAB, NordLB, NIBC, EdRAM, LBPAM and LCL. The deal follows a successful initial fundraising from DIF Capital Partners in July 2020. This new stage will enable ielo to sustain its growth while continuing to develop a state-of-the-art fiber infrastructure nationwide. Thanks to its networks, ielo works alongside its operator partners to support companies and public authorities in their digitization. ielo is reaffirming its position as the sole neutral infrastructure operator in the French market.
Thanks to the vision of its founders and the dedication of its teams, ielo, which was established in 2016, has become a national, neutral and independent infrastructure operator in less than ten years.
Since acquiring funds from DIF Capital Partners in 2020, ielo has increased the size of its metropolitan network tenfold and created its own national long-distance network. These homogeneous, ultra high-capacity networks provide unique end-to-end service quality and a competitive advantage for its operator partners.
In 2024, ielo operates and maintains:
a 16,000 km metropolitan fibre network to be as close as possible to end-customer sites;
an 11,000 km long-distance network to transport the data of its partners and their customers from one side of France to the other;
a presence in almost 200 data centres in France and Europe.
In January 2024, ielo announced an invoiced sales of €43M. Over the last four years, ielo has recorded continuous annual growth of 33% and has become one of the most dynamic players in the digital infrastructure sector. These positive results are driven by the renewed confidence of its 400 active operator customers, who were joined in 2023 by 60 new national and international players.
Today, ielo is entering a new stage in its development with a €208M structured funding package. The aim of this investment is to provide the necessary framework and financial stability for new projects over the next five years. Now that ielo has reached maturity and financial equilibrium, it will continue to focus on developing the company while supporting the digital ecosystem of its partners.
Arthur FERNANDEZ, CEO of ielo, commented: “This funding demonstrates the buoyant momentum that ielo has built year after year. Today, we are even prouder of the progress we have made, as it has been achieved without compromising what ielo is founded on, namely our independence, our ethics and our expertise. Thanks to this investment, our teams will be able to continue rolling out a state-of-the-art fibre infrastructure in France. And now, more than ever, we intend to accelerate our development to serve our partners and the French digital ecosystem as a whole.”
RBC Capital Markets, Latham & Watkins and Dentons advised ielo on this transaction. The lenders were advised by A&O Shearman.