"We are a very different company to Palantir,” says “discreet” French replacement

The managing director of the little-known French startup thrown into the spotlight when it was chosen by France’s domestic intelligence services to replace controversial US data analytics giant Palantir doesn’t like the company being called the “European Palantir”.

Silvano Sansoni, managing director of the 2019-founded ChapsVision, says: “We are a very different company. I wouldn’t match ChapsVision as a European Palantir.

“For advertising it is a good comparison, but we are really a different company. We have different values. We work on a different philosophy.”

Palantir ditched

The surprise move to ditch Palantir was announced by France in June this year.

Palantir had initially signed a contract with France's intelligence services, known as the DGSI, in 2016, after the 2015 Bataclan attacks, and had its contract renewed several times, including six months ago.

France's prime minister Sébastien Lecornu called ditching Palantir a move to avoid “strategic dependency”. Lecornu posted on social media: “We must use our own AI models; we cannot accept new strategic dependencies in the digital sphere.

“We cannot rely on tools developed by foreign powers. France must have its own tools.”

The move came amid heightened concern among European governments at their reliance on overseas, particularly US, tech.

Contract bounce 

Winning the DGSI contract, which covers data collection preparation and data analytics in France’s fight against terrorism, has given ChapsVision a bounce, says Sansoni. He says ChapsVision, which provides software to help clients analyse large datasets, is “currently talking with basically all of the European governments”, naming governments in Poland, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland and Luxembourg.   

While not naming any inked deals, the German intelligence services recently chose ChapsVision over US rivals. 

High-profile DGSI contract 

He says the DGSI deal, reported to be worth around €10m, has helped “launch ChapsVision”, adding that before “we were a very discreet company”.

According to Sansoni, who has been in MD role for one year, the DGSI is the “front client" but “the scope of our contract is for all of the French state, including all the government administration and agencies”.

One big issue will be migrating the DGSI’s “complex” systems from Palantir to ChapsVision, which could take between 12 and 18 months, says Sansoni. 

Can ChapsVision match Palantir? 

But can this relatively unknown and relatively inexperienced startup, whose annual revenues are approximately €200m compared to the €3.9bn of Palantir, which has wide-ranging US government experience, successfully fulfil the DGSI contract? 

ChapsVision’s pitch is that it lets its customers control their tech, satisfying sovereignty demands, a red-hot issue with the French government.

Sansoni points out that ChapsVision, which is based in a Paris suburb and employs around 1,100 people, is a younger firm than Palantir, which, he says,  has helped it develop more modern tech. For example, he highlights its “very strong” security offering.

While it’s not an AI model provider, Sansoni says it provides customers with agentic applications such as translation.  

Sovereign solution

But what about potential data leaks? ChapsVision says that having a sovereign solution means there is a trusted provider to handle customer concerns.

Is sovereignty a bigger issue for European governments or European companies?

Sansoni says potential customers, be it governments or businesses, want to work with providers, like ChapsVision, which provide sovereign, transparent tech which customers are not locked into for a long time.  

Customer mix  

Currently, around 65 per cent of ChapsVision’s customers come from France, around 20 per cent from the US, with the rest spread across Europe, Japan and Singapore.

Around 45 per cent of its revenues come from governments, the rest from companies, including big names like Pfizer, Boeing and Exxon Mobil.

ChapsVision founder Olivier Dellenbach, a serial entrepreneur, has built ChapsVision through 29 acquisitions to date, prompting questions about the integration of disparate businesses spanning CRM, AI, phone tracing and security services.

Sansoni says ChapsVision hopes to fully integrate its various businesses by 2027.  

2030 IPO?

The goal for ChapsVision is to IPO by 2030 at the latest, Sansoni says, when it hopes to hit €1bn in revenues, a gap of €800m to make up.

The aim is for 75 per cent of the €800m to come through acquisitions and the rest through organic growth, he says.

ChapsVision, which has raised around €275m to date, including funding from private equity firm Jolt Capital and French public investment bank Bpifrance, will carry out further funding rounds to finance future acquisitions. 

Moving forward, key markets for ChapsVision are the US and Germany, says Sansoni.

He adds: “We are still a French company. Our objective is to become a European champion with global reach.”