Brevo
Verified“French-built, jointly US/Bermuda-controlled since the 2025 buyout.”
- Founded
- 2012
- ARR
- >€200M
- Employees
- ~1,000
- Ownership
- Private (LBO)
67 = midpoint of Control 67 & Data 66
Sovereignty Quadrant
Control ↑ who owns & governs the company · Data → where your data lives. Every dot is a company — click to open it.
Every number below traces to 13 sourced facts across 8 independent sources, last verified 2026-06-12. 3 open questions hold confidence at 82% — they lower confidence, never the score.
Control ↑
Who legally and economically controls the company
Legal & Jurisdiction
85
Core operating entity is a French SAS (Sendinblue), registered office in Paris, RCS Paris 498 019 298, governed by French/EU law and fully reachable by EU enforcement (it is a named party in EU merger control). The post-LBO control holdco is also French (Eiffel 65 SAS). Strong EU legal footing; slight reservation only because the ultimate ownership chain now reaches Luxembourg/Bermuda and US vehicles.
Why 85? 3 sourced facts · click to expand
Operating entity is a French SAS registered in Paris
Annuaire des Entreprises (data.gouv.fr) · as of 2026-06-12
Registered office address in Paris
Brevo Legal Notice · as of 2025-05
Target of EU merger control is French SAS 'Brevo'
EUR-Lex / EU Commission case M.12141 · as of 2025-09-08
Control & Ownership
48
Private company; no public listing. EU merger filing M.12141 records JOINT control by Armand Thiberge (France), Oakley Capital (Bermuda-domiciled Luxco) and General Atlantic (US). Cap table after the Dec 2025 LBO: management/employees 26%, General Atlantic 25%, Oakley 25%, Bpifrance+Bridgepoint 24%. EU/founder voting exists but is shared, not majority — US + non-EU PE hold ~50% and co-control. Mid-range: not foreign-dominated, but no longer EU-controlled either.
Why 48? 4 sourced facts · click to expand
Joint control acquired by French founder, Bermuda PE and US PE
EUR-Lex / EU Commission case M.12141 · as of 2025-09-08
Post-round shareholding split
TechCrunch · as of 2025-12-03
Deal structured as a leveraged buyout; Partech fully exited
Goodwin (deal counsel) · as of 2025-12
Company is privately held (no public listing)
General Atlantic press release · as of 2025-12-04
Data →
Where your data lives and who can reach it
Data & Infrastructure
55
Customer data is hosted within the EU: primary hosting on OVH (a French sovereign-cloud provider) in France and Germany, with backups/storage on Google Cloud in Belgium. EU data residency is a stated priority. Scored above a pure-US-hyperscaler deployment because the primary provider is EU-owned (OVH), but held below 80 because Google Cloud — a US operator subject to the CLOUD Act — handles part of the data even in its EU (Belgium) region.
Why 55? 3 sourced facts · click to expand
Primary hosting on French provider OVH in France and Germany
Brevo Help Center (Data storage location) · as of 2026-06-12
Additional data stored on Google Cloud in Belgium
Brevo Help Center (Data storage location) · as of 2026-06-12
Hosting servers located within the EU
Brevo GDPR page · as of 2026-06-12
Operations & People
82
Headquartered and run from Paris; founder-CEO Armand Thiberge is French; ~1,000 employees with a strong European workforce; EUR-denominated ARR (>€200M in 2025). The US is a major and growing market (≈15-24% of new revenue) and a stated expansion priority, but the operational center of gravity remains clearly European.
Why 82? 3 sourced facts · click to expand
Headquartered in Paris with a French founder-CEO
General Atlantic press release · as of 2025-12-04
Revenue reported in euros; surpassed €200M ARR in 2025
General Atlantic press release · as of 2025-12-04
France/Germany/USA account for 65% of revenue; US a growth focus
TechCrunch · as of 2025-12-03
Aligned to the EU Commission’s official Cloud Sovereignty Framework (SEAL, Jun 2026) →
What we don’t know
3 open questions — they lower confidence, never the score
- ?
What share of customer data sits on Google Cloud (US operator) vs OVH, and is any non-EU transfer involved?
Drives the infra score; the Google Cloud / CLOUD Act exposure is the main data-sovereignty caveat.
- ?
Exact governance terms of the joint-control arrangement (board seats, veto rights) between Thiberge, Oakley and General Atlantic.
Determines whether day-to-day control is genuinely EU-founder-led or PE-driven; affects ownership score.
- ?
Where is the new top holding company (Eiffel 65 SAS / Oakley Viking Luxco) ultimately domiciled and consolidated?
Affects legal/ownership: a Luxembourg/Bermuda holdco chain would weaken EU control further.
EU Cloud Sovereignty Framework lens
SEAL maps a cloud-provider sovereignty framework onto a SaaS vendor — this is an analogous mapping for comparison, not a certification.
Strategic
French-founded EU leader, but post-LBO strategy centers on US expansion under shared US/Bermuda control.
Legal & jurisdictional
French SAS, EU-incorporated and fully reachable by EU law; named party in EU merger control.
Data & AI
Data stored in EU (OVH FR/DE primary) but Google Cloud (Belgium) adds US-operator CLOUD Act exposure.
Operational
Paris HQ, French CEO, EUR reporting, European workforce of ~1,000.
Supply chain
Core infra split between EU-owned OVH and US-owned Google Cloud; full sub-processor map not verified.
Technological
Hybrid on-prem/OVH stack reduces hyperscaler lock-in, but partial Google Cloud dependence remains.
Security & compliance
GDPR-focused with stated EU data residency; specific certifications (ISO 27001, SOC 2) not verified here.
Environmental sustainability
No verified data on energy use or sustainability reporting found in this review.
EU alternatives
French-founded email API with EU data residency, but owned by Swedish-listed Sinch — EU-region but parent-controlled abroad.
Email/marketing-adjacent services from a French sovereign cloud (Iliad group); strong EU control and EU-owned infra.
Itself a leading EU option for marketing/CRM, but with joint US/Bermuda control post-2025 LBO and partial Google Cloud hosting.
How the method works
Methodology v2 (provisional): the score is the midpoint of two axes — Control (who owns and governs the company) and Data (where your data lives and who can reach it). Each axis is scored only on verified evidence; unknowns reduce confidence, never the score. Every input below is sourced; the weights and judgments are open to challenge.
Spotted an error? Every claim is sourced — challenge it and we correct the record.
- 2026-06-12 — Initial golden profile, authored from primary sources (human + AI review).
Report Incorrect Data
Found an error in this company's profile? Help us improve our data by submitting a correction.
Verified 2026-06-12 · Human + AI joint review (sources independently checked) · Methodology