Richard Mousties
Qualtera
Transcript
I am Richard Mousties, I am the president of Qualtera and this company was created in 2010 by five founders with the objective of providing real-time analysis tools for all thesis data and measurements that are made throughout the production cycle and manufacturing of electronic components. The proof of concept was completed, adopted by major industry players and so we needed to move to the next step, take an important stride to continue developing the business and there were three possibilities: continue raising funds, of which we had already done three rounds, get ready for bonds, go public, or find a player to acquire us and one of the investors introduced us to IPTP. What we liked, I think the fundamental criterion was that they are entrepreneurs, there was always indeed someone from IPTP following the case who was present in order to have a complete understanding, total traceability of the various exchanges and different iterations that took place, including any divergences that could exist between the founders, the founders with investors and the group with the buyer. One of the most serious contacts quite quickly was a Japanese company but we didn't sign with them because when they came to Montpellier, the surprise was that they had no timeline. IPTP knew we had other potential buyers and so it was better to end this deal and start over from scratch but under better conditions. We started over from scratch, identifying a target, discussion with this potential buyer until the final deal was signed. So IPTP was able to provide us with support in identifying the right targets, major players who were capable of seeing the deal through to completion, and they were able to do this with Japan as well as with the United States and under completely comparable conditions which allowed us to maintain control while being very comfortable with how the process unfolded. So I think what was most important in our exchanges with IPTP was their capacity for resilience. The process wasn't simple, they never gave up, they were always indeed by our side assisting us. What was the situation, what choices we could make at certain moments facing this situation and I think this is what allowed us to successfully complete a deal under good conditions.