OVH Groupe S.A. (OVH.PA) Bundle
From a Roubaix garage in 1999 to a publicly traded cloud champion, OVHcloud's trajectory is packed with high-stakes milestones - a $250 million funding round in 2016 that pushed its valuation past $1 billion, an October 2021 IPO on Euronext (ticker OVH), strategic acquisitions like the €28 million gridscale deal in August 2023, and governance changes culminating in Octave Klaba's dual role as Chairman and CEO in October 2025; today the group reports scale and momentum with €993 million in FY2024 revenue and 10.3% organic growth, services delivered to over 1.6 million customers across 140+ countries from more than 450,000 servers in 37 data centers, a Jan 2025 €500 million senior unsecured notes issuance supporting its balance sheet, a €350 million share buyback at €9 per share announced in October 2024, and an ownership structure dominated by the Klaba family with 82% of share capital as of January 23, 2025, all while pursuing a mission of data sovereignty, energy-efficient infrastructure, SecNumCloud 3.2 certification for Bare Metal Pod (March 2025), and an ambition to sustain ~10% growth with an adjusted EBITDA margin structurally above 40% as it expands across continents and monetizes public, private and value-added cloud services.
OVH Groupe S.A. (OVH.PA): Intro
OVH Groupe S.A. (OVH.PA) is a European cloud and hosting provider founded in November 1999 by Octave Klaba in Roubaix, France. Over its history the company has grown from a regional hosting startup into a global cloud operator with proprietary data centers, a mixed IaaS/PaaS portfolio, and a public listing on Euronext Paris.- Founded: November 1999 - Octave Klaba, Roubaix, France.
- North American expansion: Data centers in Beauharnois and Toronto (Canada); Hillsboro and Vint Hill (USA).
- 2016 funding: $250 million raised; valuation > $1 billion.
- IPO: Listed October 2021 on Euronext Paris (ticker OVH).
- Acquisition: August 2023 - acquired gridscale GmbH for €28 million (edge computing software).
- Governance change: October 2025 - Octave Klaba appointed Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer.
| Year | Event | Key Figures |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Founding | Founded by Octave Klaba in Roubaix, France |
| 2016 | Growth funding | $250M round; valuation > $1B |
| 2021 | Public listing | IPO on Euronext Paris (OVH) |
| 2023 | Acquisition | Acquired gridscale GmbH for €28M |
| 2025 | Governance restructure | Octave Klaba appointed Chairman & CEO |
- Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS): public cloud compute, storage, networking - pay-as-you-go and reserved models.
- Private cloud & dedicated servers: enterprise-grade hosting contracts and recurring monthly revenue.
- Managed services & enterprise solutions: migrations, security, compliance, and SLA-backed support.
- Edge and platform services: acquisitions (e.g., gridscale) extend capabilities for edge computing and regional offerings.
- Value-added services: domain registration, CDN, backup, and professional services.
- Data centers: multi-region network across Europe and North America (notable sites: Roubaix, Beauharnois, Toronto, Hillsboro, Vint Hill, and others).
- Customer base: hundreds of thousands of customers including SMBs, ISVs, and enterprises (global mix).
- Employees: several thousand staff worldwide supporting R&D, operations, sales and support.
- Cost-competitive pricing via owned data centers and vertical integration (hardware design and energy optimizations).
- Geographic differentiation: European data sovereignty and localized data centers to meet regulatory requirements.
- Product breadth: from raw compute to managed cloud platforms and edge services, enabling upsell and higher ARPU for enterprise customers.
- Recurring revenue mix: subscriptions for cloud resources, dedicated servers, and managed services provide predictable cash flow.
| Metric/Event | Reported / Known Value |
|---|---|
| 2016 funding round | $250,000,000; valuation > $1 billion |
| 2021 IPO | Listed on Euronext Paris under OVH |
| 2023 acquisition | gridscale GmbH for €28,000,000 |
| Governance (2025) | Octave Klaba appointed Chairman & CEO |
OVH Groupe S.A. (OVH.PA): History
OVH Groupe S.A. was founded in 1999 by Octave Klaba in Roubaix, France, and grew from a small hosting shop into one of Europe's largest cloud and infrastructure providers. Key milestones:- 1999 - Founding by Octave Klaba.
- 2000s - Rapid expansion across Europe with proprietary server design and data-center builds.
- 2010s - Global footprint established with multiple international data centers and product lines (public cloud, private cloud, VPS, bare metal, storage, networking).
- 2021-2024 - Continued commercial expansion, product diversification, and public-market activity culminating in a publicly listed structure where the founding family retained control.
| Holder | Share / Percentage | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Klaba family | 82.00% | Dominant controlling stake; strategic decision-making influence |
| Spiral Holdings B.V. | 2.00% | External investor vehicle |
| Spiral Holdings S.C.A. | 1.91% | Related investment entity |
| Executives, directors & employees | 0.82% | Employee participation in ownership |
| Treasury shares | 1,247,756 shares | Company-held shares for corporate purposes |
| Free float | Remaining shares | Publicly traded portion providing liquidity and market valuation |
- With 82% control, the Klaba family can steer long-term strategy, M&A appetite, and capital allocation.
- Minor stakes held by Spiral entities and employees provide some external alignment and internal incentives.
- Treasury shares give the company flexibility for buybacks, employee plans, or future strategic transactions.
OVH Groupe S.A. (OVH.PA): Ownership Structure
OVH Groupe S.A. (OVHcloud) was founded in 1999 by Octave Klaba and has grown into a major European cloud provider emphasizing independence, sovereignty and price predictability. The company's governance combines family legacy, institutional investors and public market shareholders following its market operations in recent years.- Mission: Provide innovative cloud solutions that support businesses' digital transformation with a focus on performance, price predictability and data sovereignty.
- Values: Independence (designing/managing own servers, data centers and fiber network), security, customer-centricity, innovation and environmental responsibility.
- Security milestone: SecNumCloud 3.2 qualification obtained in March 2025 for the Bare Metal Pod platform, attesting to compliance with stringent French state security requirements.
- Sustainability: Operates data centers with energy-efficiency measures to reduce carbon footprint and optimize PUE (power usage effectiveness).
- Customer focus: Tailored solutions, dedicated support and a broad product catalog spanning Bare Metal, public/private cloud, hosted private clouds and edge offerings.
- Operational independence is reflected in vertical control of the value chain: in-house server design, proprietary data center builds and ownership/operation of fiber links where possible.
- Innovation culture: continuous R&D investment to expand cloud services (Bare Metal, VPS, Public Cloud, Managed Kubernetes, AI/ML infrastructure) and to improve sustainability and security features.
| Metric | Figure / Year |
|---|---|
| Founding year | 1999 |
| Customers | ~1.6 million (global) |
| Data centers | ~33 across 4 continents |
| Servers in production | ~400,000 |
| Employees | ~3,000 |
| Annual revenue | ≈ €1.1 billion (2023) |
| Key security certification | SecNumCloud 3.2 - Bare Metal Pod (March 2025) |
- How OVHcloud makes money: a mix of recurring subscription and usage billing across product lines - Bare Metal servers, public cloud instances, private/hosted cloud, storage, networking, managed services and professional services - plus value-added offerings (backup, security, compliance). Pricing focus targets predictable cost structures for SMBs and large enterprise accounts.
OVH Groupe S.A. (OVH.PA): Mission and Values
OVH Groupe S.A. (OVH.PA) positions itself as a European-rooted cloud provider offering an integrated, vertically controlled infrastructure stack and a broad portfolio of cloud services aimed at enterprises, SMBs and developers. Its stated mission emphasizes sovereignty, affordability and sustainability: to provide accessible, performant and secure cloud infrastructure while reducing vendor lock-in and carbon footprint. How it works OVHcloud operates an integrated model that spans hardware design, data center ownership, and network operation to retain control over performance, cost and security. Core elements:- End-to-end infrastructure ownership - in-house server design, proprietary racks and power management, and operation of its own fiber-optic backbone and IP network.
- Service tiers - Bare Metal Cloud (single-tenant dedicated servers optimized for predictable performance), Hosted Private Cloud (fully managed private environments built on VMware/Hyperconverged stacks), and Public Cloud (multi-tenant shared compute, storage, and managed services).
- Global footprint - distributed data centers and Points of Presence for low latency, redundancy and regional compliance.
- Direct and partner-led go-to-market - online self-service portal, direct sales teams for larger customers, and a partner/reseller ecosystem for integration and managed services.
- Automation and self-service - APIs, CLIs, and web console for rapid provisioning, autoscaling, and lifecycle management to minimize manual ops.
- R&D and engineering focus - continuous investment in platform performance, security (including custom anti-DDoS and network protections), and energy efficiency.
- Data centers: ~34 sites across ~19 countries (Europe, North America, APAC, LATAM) to serve regional compliance and performance needs.
- Server fleet: ~420,000 physical servers in production to support Bare Metal and hosted offerings.
- Customer base: ~400,000 customers spanning startups, SMBs, large enterprises and public-sector organizations.
- Employees: ~2,800 technical and commercial staff globally (engineering, operations, sales and support).
- Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS): Pay-as-you-go and reserved plans for Bare Metal and Public Cloud compute and storage.
- Managed and Hosted services: Recurring managed private cloud contracts, managed databases, backup and disaster-recovery services.
- Network services: IP transit, CDN, and interconnects leveraging OVH's fiber backbone and PoPs.
- Software and platform add-ons: Managed Kubernetes, database-as-a-service, security features (e.g., anti-DDoS premium), and consulting/implementation.
- Professional services and support: Custom deployments, migration, SLAs, and premium support tiers for enterprise customers.
| Metric | Approximate Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Annual revenue (FY 2023) | €1.02 billion | Company-reported top-line range reflecting global growth and service mix |
| Customers | ~400,000 | Includes SMBs, enterprises and public-sector accounts |
| Physical servers | ~420,000 | Supports Bare Metal and hosted private offerings |
| Data centers | ~34 sites | Distributed across ~19 countries for redundancy and locality |
| Employees | ~2,800 | Global workforce in R&D, operations and commercial teams |
- Bare Metal Cloud - customers select a preconfigured dedicated server, deploy OS and workloads directly, and scale by adding nodes; billing is hourly or monthly.
- Hosted Private Cloud - OVHcloud provisions and manages the private environment (often with VMware or OVH's hyperconverged stacks), offering SLAs and managed backups for enterprises.
- Public Cloud - self-service multi-tenant offering with API-driven provisioning, autoscaling groups, object/block storage and managed services for containerized workloads.
- Networking and resilience - multi-region replication, private networks (VPC), cross-connects and DDoS protections are layered to meet availability SLAs.
OVH Groupe S.A. (OVH.PA): How It Works
OVH Groupe S.A. (OVHcloud) operates as a vertically integrated cloud and internet infrastructure provider, combining data center design, server manufacturing, network operations, and a broad portfolio of cloud and hosting services to serve enterprises, developers, and SMBs worldwide.- Core offering: public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud, bare-metal dedicated servers, and shared hosting.
- Ancillary services: domain registration, website hosting, email, telephony and SIP/VoIP, managed services, and connectivity solutions.
- Value-added features: backup & disaster recovery, security suites, professional services, and SLA-backed enterprise support.
- Subscription and usage-based billing for cloud infrastructure (IaaS) and platform services (PaaS).
- Recurring contracts for dedicated servers and managed hosting with multi-year and monthly plans.
- One-time and recurring fees for domain registration, SSL certificates, and web hosting packages.
- Telephony/VoIP and connectivity services billed per line, minute or as bundled subscriptions.
- Professional services, managed security, consulting, and migration fees.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Customers | ~1.6 million (across 140+ countries) |
| FY2024 Revenue | €993 million |
| Organic growth (FY2024) | 10.3% |
| Data centers / Regions | 30+ data center clusters across Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific, South America, and Africa |
| Notable financing (Jan 2025) | €500 million senior unsecured notes issuance |
- Cloud services (public/private/hybrid): significant and growing share driven by usage-based revenue and enterprise migrations.
- Dedicated servers & hosting: stable recurring revenue from SMBs and specialized workloads.
- Domains, web hosting & consumer services: high-volume, lower-ARPU recurring streams.
- Telephony & connectivity: complementary revenue and higher-margin enterprise bundles.
- Professional & managed services: one-time and recurring higher-margin engagements.
- Vertical integration reduces capex and operating costs: in-house server design and manufacturing (OVH-built racks and servers).
- Energy-efficient data center architecture aims to lower power usage effectiveness (PUE) and operating expenses.
- Scale benefits: large global footprint enables leverage of fixed infrastructure across a large customer base.
- Capital allocation: ongoing investment in network expansion, data center resilience, and R&D for cloud platform features.
- January 2025: issued €500 million senior unsecured notes to refinance existing debt and support general corporate purposes, improving maturity profile and liquidity.
- Public listing and subsequent financings have supported international expansion and infrastructure investments.
- SMBs and web professionals: price-sensitive shared hosting, domains, and single-server offerings.
- Mid-market and enterprises: dedicated servers, private cloud, hybrid solutions, SLAs, and managed services.
- Developers and tech companies: API-driven public cloud, VPS, container services, and pay-as-you-go billing.
OVH Groupe S.A. (OVH.PA): How It Makes Money
OVHcloud monetizes cloud infrastructure, hosting and managed services across a diversified customer base - from SMBs to large enterprises - by selling compute, storage, networking, managed cloud and value‑added professional services. Key commercial levers are scale (large, owned server footprint), vertical pricing for dedicated hosting, and higher‑margin managed and software services.- Primary revenue streams: Public cloud (IaaS/PaaS), Dedicated servers, Managed services & consulting, Colocation and Network services.
- Scale advantages: >450,000 servers across 37 data centers on four continents enable competitive unit economics and geographic redundancy.
- Profitability focus: Targeting sustainable ~10% top‑line growth with adjusted EBITDA structurally >40%.
| Metric | Value / Note |
|---|---|
| Market capitalization (Dec 2025) | €1.45 billion |
| Owned servers | ~450,000 |
| Data centers | 37 (4 continents) |
| FY 2024 revenue (reported / approx.) | €1.70 billion |
| 2025 revenue target (≈10% growth) | €≈1.87 billion |
| Adjusted EBITDA margin target | Structurally above 40% |
| Share buyback (Oct 2024) | €350 million at €9.0 per share |
| Strategic M&A | Acquisition of gridscale GmbH (Aug 2023) - edge computing & market expansion |
| Leadership | Octave Klaba reappointed Chairman & CEO (Oct 2025) |
- Consumption billing for cloud compute and storage (metered usage, volume discounts).
- Fixed recurring contracts for dedicated servers and colocation (multi‑year SLAs).
- Higher‑margin managed services, professional services and SaaS integrations upsell customers from commodity infrastructure to stickier offerings.
- Network and interconnection fees, plus value add-ons (backup, security, compliance) that expand ARPU.
OVH Groupe S.A. (OVH.PA) DCF Excel Template
5-Year Financial Model
40+ Charts & Metrics
DCF & Multiple Valuation
Free Email Support
Disclaimer
All information, articles, and product details provided on this website are for general informational and educational purposes only. We do not claim any ownership over, nor do we intend to infringe upon, any trademarks, copyrights, logos, brand names, or other intellectual property mentioned or depicted on this site. Such intellectual property remains the property of its respective owners, and any references here are made solely for identification or informational purposes, without implying any affiliation, endorsement, or partnership.
We make no representations or warranties, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of any content or products presented. Nothing on this website should be construed as legal, tax, investment, financial, medical, or other professional advice. In addition, no part of this site—including articles or product references—constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, advertisement, or offer to buy or sell any securities, franchises, or other financial instruments, particularly in jurisdictions where such activity would be unlawful.
All content is of a general nature and may not address the specific circumstances of any individual or entity. It is not a substitute for professional advice or services. Any actions you take based on the information provided here are strictly at your own risk. You accept full responsibility for any decisions or outcomes arising from your use of this website and agree to release us from any liability in connection with your use of, or reliance upon, the content or products found herein.