Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. 22 November 2017. At Befine Solutions, all the indicators are pointing to sustained growth. The German software company has moved into bigger offices in its home town of Freiburg. It is also pursuing its international expansion with a new subsidiary in the US, Cryptshare Inc., an important milestone in its growth strategy. It already has branch offices in the UK and the Netherlands.
The firm has also increased its headcount to more than 40, most of whom are based in the new HQ in Freiburg. The facility also includes several departments involved in international operations, such as product development and international technical support. A few days ago, Befine Solutions moved into the large and modern open-plan space in Freiburg that is more than twice as big as its previous offices. It has enough space for over 50 staff and is well suited to the Scrum project management method used in the company’s agile software development operations.
Dominik Lehr, founder and CEO of Befine Solutions AG, explains the move. “The positive order situation had a slight downside in that our old office was bursting at the seams,” he says. “With our move, we’ve created the right conditions for further growth over the next few years, while providing our staff with a more attractive working environment. It was important to us to stay in Freiburg and this region, where we’ve been feeling right at home since 2000.”
Security software made in Germany for the “land of unlimited opportunities”
This initiative comes in parallel to the company’s ongoing international expansion. As a response to increasing demand from US-based companies, Befine Solutions has established a subsidiary in America: Cryptshare Inc. It has already been running branch offices in the UK and the Netherlands for some time. The firm has hired a small sales team in the office in Boston, Massachusetts, which is being tasked with building up the North American customer base. Currently comprising four staff, the team is working on direct sales to new and existing customers. It is headed up by Michael Takla, who managed the inside sales team of a New York-based cyber-security firm before joining Cryptshare Inc.
“Cryptshare is now being used by customers in over 30 countries,” notes Dominik Lehr. “The growing number of users and increasing demand mean that, along with hiring more staff, the whole company needs to strike out in a new direction. The new office on the other side of the pond is an example of this. We’re very pleased to have Michael Takla on board, a specialist who can support our growth with his knowledge, experience and contacts. We’re already so happy with demand for our “made in Germany” security software that we’re thinking of opening an additional office on the east coast in 2018.”
Awards in the USA and German-speaking region
The decision was spurred on by the fact that Cryptshare won the Cybersecurity Excellence Award in the email security category earlier this year in the US. The annual accolade goes to companies, people and products around the world that stand out due to their excellent performance and innovation in the area of information security.
In parallel, Befine Solutions achieved a very good score in the current Softshell Vendor Report 2017. Softshell, a Munich-based value-added distributor of cybersecurity solutions, produced its third report on the market presence of cyber-security solutions in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Cryptshare was included for the first time and was rated with a score of 9.41 out of ten points. This was the highest ranking and was only achieved by four of the 1,279 companies surveyed.
The ranking is calculated based on the average scores in nine categories. For example, Softshell verifies whether the solution’s user interface and technical support are available in German and whether the company has salespeople, resellers and distributors in the German-speaking countries. In that way, Softshell estimates how effectively a provider can meet the requirements of its customers in that region.
Further information
The Softshell Vendor Report 2017 can be downloaded here https://www.cryptshare.com/en/about-us/awards/softshell-vendor-report-2017/, the information about Befine Solutions can be found here https://twitter.com/Cryptshare/status/931509168661463042. Images of Befine Solutions’ new offices are available here https://www.cryptshare.com/en/about-us/.
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