Among technology companies, it is rare to issue shares in a growth company at a premium to the stock price. Poland’s DataWalk, a provider of an advanced linkage analytics platform, broke this pattern by raising PLN 116.25 million in an accelerated bookbuild (ABB). The success of this operation is not only proof of investor confidence in the technology, but above all a strategic bet on Europe’s role in the new digital arms race.
The company, whose software connects billions of objects from distributed sources, has been building a position in the US for years, serving federal agencies and Fortune 500 corporations, but its current injection of capital has a specific, geopolitical purpose: to build a dedicated go-to-market structure for the defence sector on the Old Continent. As CEO Pawel Wieczynski points out, the company wants to capitalise on the phenomenon known as the ‘European Defence Awakening’ – the surge in security spending and the move towards technological sovereignty, without sacrificing momentum in the commercial sector.
From a business perspective, the demand structure is key. The process led by Ipopema Securities attracted not only institutions but also significant individual investors (HNWIs). The fact that demand outstripped supply at a price of £155 per share suggests that the market sees DataWalk as a rare case of a European ‘deep tech’ that already has a validated product in the most demanding, US market.
The company’s strategy seems clear: rather than competing solely for IT budgets, DataWalk is positioning itself as a key link in the intelligence and investigative infrastructure. In an era of increasing complexity of hybrid and financial threats, the ability to instantly identify fraud is becoming a scarce commodity. The funds raised are expected to allow the organisation to scale without sacrificing the quality of service to existing customers, a typical challenge for companies moving from expansion to global dominance.
