Docapost acquires Idemia's electronic signature business

Docaposte is the digital subsidiary of La Poste Group. It is now establishing itself as the French leader in the electronic signature market by announcing the acquisition of the dedicated business of Idemia, presented as a pioneer in digital identity. This alliance of forces should extend beyond the French borders.

FACTS

• Docapost has just acquired Idemia's electronic signature and digital safe activities. The digital group has thus established itself as the French leader in electronic signatures.

• This acquisition also represents a combination of expertise that will enable Docaposte to cover multiple digital trust services:

  • digital identity at the substantial level of La Poste (pending European notification as a French digital identity solution connected to FranceConnect),

  • electronic certificates (electronic signature, electronic registered mail),

  • remote identity verification (PVID),

  • documentary control,

  • KYC,

  • the future e-archiving eIDAS 2 with integrated signature.

• The acquisition has been effective since 1 January 2022 but has only just been made official by the groups concerned. It enables Docapost to cover 30% of the market share of the sector in France.

• The amount of the transaction has not been disclosed.

CHALLENGES

• Going international: Idemia benefited from a European base for its activities. It is this positioning that now opens the doors of Europe to Docapost, and 8 countries in particular (Spain, France, Romania, Denmark, Germany, Bulgaria, Portugal and Switzerland). This coverage represents a potential market of 1.2 billion euros by 2025.

• Consolidating its offering in its priority markets: The banking and insurance sectors are clearly cited as Docapost's priority markets. The acquisition of Idemia will enable the group to enrich its range of services with a digital storage solution adapted to these regulated markets.

• Fostering synergies : Docaposte is strengthening its offering with Idemia, even though it was already providing the first digital identity solution certified by Anssi in France as complying with the substantial guarantee level of the eIDAS regulation.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• Docaposte points out that the purchase of Idemia, while representing a major operation for its group, is part of a more global strategy of expansion through acquisitions (Softeam Group, AR24, which offered an electronic registered letter solution, InAdvans in the healthcare market and Index Education).

• This strategy has enabled the group to establish itself as the leading health data operator in France with more than 45 million medical records managed. The company states that it has more than 23,000 corporate and government clients and 6,400 employees at nearly 70 sites in France and abroad. Docaposte achieved 750 million euros in turnover in 2021 and hopes to achieve 1 billion euros in 2022.

• Idemia, for its part, achieved a turnover of €2.2 billion in 2020 and plans to build a new 8,000 m² factory. The group's objective is to build a new production site in order to significantly increase its volumes by 2024. Targets have already been set: to increase the volume of bank cards produced in Vitré by 10%, to increase the volume of corporate access cards by 100% and to increase the production of automotive electronic components by 105%.