Faraday exits Datos101 to Queka; B2Group eyes Spanish growth

Faraday Venture Partners has completed an exit from Datos101, marking the fund manager’s seventh liquidity event. The Spanish cybersecurity and cloud services specialist will be combined with B2com and Smartgroup under a new platform, B2Group, led by private equity buyer Queka Real Partners. The deal is positioned as a consolidation play in the market for technology services aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Spain.

Faraday originally backed Datos101 in 2020. Over the holding period the company expanded its footprint in managed backups, cybersecurity and cloud infrastructure for SMEs, a segment that has seen rising demand because of more frequent cyber-attacks and accelerating cloud adoption among smaller businesses. The sale represents the first exit from the manager’s Faraday Europa I (FCRE) vehicle and underscores the firm’s strategy of backing early-stage, high-growth European software and security companies.

Jaime Biel, Managing Partner at Faraday Venture Partners, framed the outcome as validation of the firm’s European thesis and team execution. He highlighted the fund’s role in professionalising the target and supporting scale initiatives. The firm is now marketing its follow-on vehicle, Faraday Europa II, which keeps the same pan‑European mandate and a minimum ticket of €25,000 to broaden access to institutional-style venture allocations for professional investors. The new fund has also been recognised by Fond-ICO Global among notable early-stage vehicles.

The transaction is also part of a broader consolidation trend in Spain where private equity groups are building roll-up platforms to aggregate managed service providers (MSPs) and cloud-focused businesses serving SMEs. Market observers point to the economics of scale in security operations, recurring revenue models and cross-sell potential as the primary drivers. For buyers like Queka Real Partners, assembling a cluster of complementary assets — in this case Datos101, B2com and Smartgroup — aims to accelerate growth through unified product offerings and shared infrastructure.

Other shareholders also divested as part of the round. Spanish investor Bewater reported selling its stakes in Datos101, citing net annualised returns (IRR) of 15.3% for one vehicle and 5.6% for a second. Those figures reflect differing entry points and time horizons among minority sellers and illustrate how outcomes can vary across co-investors in the same company.

Strategically, the deal highlights two linked dynamics: the maturation of Europe‑focused VC portfolios where early backers seek exits via PE-enabled roll-ups, and the strong buyer appetite for predictable, recurring revenue in SME cloud and cybersecurity services. For the Spanish market, the creation of B2Group may accelerate consolidation and raise the bar for scale and professionalisation among local MSPs and cloud vendors, while offering a clearer consolidation path for founders and early backers seeking liquidity.