Our Portfolio company Electronic ID acquired by Signicat.

“In a sociIt’s a match! The history behind VideoID, a deceleration by the beach, an acquisition, and a group of friends.

Someone once said “A dream does not become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work”….and to that, we toast 🍾

Last week, we lived a very exciting moment, having announced the acquisition of one of our portfolio companies that we’re extremely proud of, ElectronicID (eID). Not only because it’s a very relevant transaction that, once again, puts Spain in the European Tech map, but also because we believe that the founders, Iván Nabalón and José Villalba, embody every characteristic we as investors look for in a management team, and that their example can inspire the next wave of entrepreneurs to come.

Our aim with this post is not to provide additional information on the exit — you can find everything here, among other sources — but to share with you our story and experience working with them, to thank them for their hard work, and to highlight eID as an inspiring business role model.

😅 “Hard Nut to Crack”

A good friend told us about the company and the founders, but the first time we met Iván and José was at 4YFN in Barcelona, back in February 2017. We had briefly exchanged emails in the past, but we had never met. As fate would have it, Iván recognized Marcos Martín (our CEO) and Xevi Fuyà (our COO back then, now Associate at Nauta Capital) in the event. If you’ve ever attended 4YFN, you know how busy and hectic it can be, but thank God we took the time to stop and listen to what they had to say.

Their project caught our attention from the very beginning. An experienced team, a sound product, leading technology, scalable SaaS business model with early traction — what else could we ask for. We were eager for them to apply and participate in our startup decelerator program, Menorca Millennials 2017. Indeed, they applied and made the cut. Our panel of judges evaluated and selected them, and to no one’s surprise, they ended up topping the list.

Funnily enough, this is where hell started for us… we had to convince them that Decelera’s program was different and worth joining. Spending 10 days away from the office, with limited resources and operations running at full speed, all while closing major clients, is undoubtedly a huge commitment for a founder. This was the situation with eID when we started formal conversations. We were well aware that it was going to be tough road ahead, but we took up the challenge.

Iván took the entire process very seriously and defended his company until the end, with full transparency and honesty, always focusing on what really mattered and what would be best for his company. We were blessed with the opportunity to experience first-hand a master at work. After countless calls, a visit to their offices, an informal lunch and hours of negotiations, finally, we made it! We came to an agreement and had them join us 💪 Many thanks Iván and José for your belief and trust in us back then!

Deceleration and Human Due Diligence

Those of you that have participated in one of our editions know that the program is designed to foster human connections and have a deep understanding of the teams behind the projects. And that’s what we did with eID.

During the 10 days, we had different members of their team joining, which allowed us to get a clear grasp on their determination to succeed. We must mention outright that this was not the first time we had seen a company offering digital identification services. In fact, we had come across several companies in the past (probably 2–3 different ones in each European country) and started to think that this was a pretty crowded space already; one that was not worth exploring further. But eID was different. They had the vision, the industry expertise and the seniority that is required in such a regulated space. Every time we discussed eID with our Experience Makers and asked for feedback, we got the same response: “These guys are true industry thought leaders” 🤓

We wasted no time in building an investment thesis around them and decided to push hard to become shareholders in the company…which by the way we did! Thanks again Iván and José for letting us on board to share this journey with you. 🙌

📈 Onwards and Upwards

In early 2018, Electronic Identification closed its Series A round, which we participated in, given our conviction and belief in the team. With this investment round, the company was well-funded to continue developing its proprietary technology, strengthen the team and keep on delivering on their value proposition. The company had its sight set on growth, and that is what they executed on.

Throughout this process, we could experience first-hand their tenacity, their strategic mindset and their highly professional decision-making style. To our eyes, Iván and José will always be the type of entrepreneurs that make decisions wisely, based on data and take well-balanced risks. As is the case for any business, we went through ups and down, we had our sweet and our bitter moments, but we want to highlight that we never suffered for the survival of the company. And the main reason why we always felt so safe was due to the captains of the ship, who had a unique way of navigating uncertainty and anticipating the company’s needs. No major missteps were made…and for that, we have to thank Iván and José once again 🙏

🏆 #ProudInvestors and forever grateful!

Even though the acquisition came earlier than we expected, we could not have asked for a better partner to join forces with. A long history of collaboration and building a strong relationship over the years with Signicat is the best due diligence on an acquiror that anyone can hope for. When Iván and José informed us that this was happening, we were all-in and had complete trust that this was the best for the company moving forward. To Iván and José, eID had always been the most important, they had proved that time and again, and here, the only thing we could say was “Yes, captain, my Captain!” ⚓

Finally, we want to reinforce that this is the outcome of a long journey of hard work, effort and dedication from the entire eID team. Their success is very well-deserved and we could not be happier to see the company partnering up with Signicat. Electronic Identification will continue operating independently until it completely integrates into the group. By this, we mean that their story is not over, and you will continue hearing from eID as they keep on killing it in the digital identification space.

And to Iván and José…thanks for the ride, for those meals at Vallecas, for being such great founders, for letting us be part of your success, but most importantly for being people we deeply admire at a personal level. Cheers to you, our friends 🥂