Powell Enters a New Phase of International Growth with Cathay Capital
October 1, 2025
Europe
Paris, October 1st, 2025 – Powell, a leading player in modern intranets, welcomes Cathay Capital as a majority shareholder alongside its co-founder and Chairman Cyril de Queral, CEO Edouard Payenneville, and the entire team.
This strategic investment will strengthen its position as one of the leading French and European providers of next-generation intranets, also known as Digital Workplaces. With the support of Cathay Capital, Powell intends to accelerate its expansion in Europe and the United States, enhance its innovation capabilities through artificial intelligence, and contribute to the consolidation of a rapidly evolving market.
A rapidly evolving market at the heart of IT, HR and Communications priorities
Traditionally seen as an internal communications tool, the intranet has in recent years become a strategic building block of companies’ digital transformation. Driven by the rise of hybrid work and growing challenges around cybersecurity, compliance and productivity, the Digital Workplace market is evolving rapidly while remaining fragmented.
In this context, next-generation intranets go beyond providing information to become true collaborative platforms, strengthening both operational efficiency and employee engagement. Agentic AI marks a major new milestone, further enhancing the employee experience and boosting team performance.
Powell: 10 years of profitable growth
Founded in 2016, Powell has established itself as a leader in the Digital Workplace with a modular platform natively integrated into the Microsoft environment, designed to enhance the employee experience.
Its mission: helping organizations build secure, high-performance, and inclusive digital workplaces that serve both employees and IT, HR, and Communications teams.
With more than 10 years of double-digit organic growth, Powell stands out with a fast-to-deploy, competitive offering that meets the highest security standards. The company currently employs 70 people across three continents, generates 60% of its revenue outside France, and supports several hundred organizations worldwide—including including Quest Diagnostic, Duane Morriss, Steelwave, Crossfirst Bank, and other leading international companies.
A new chapter with Cathay Capital’s support
Cathay Capital’s entry into Powell’s shareholding marks a new chapter in the company’s development. The shared ambition is clear: to strengthen the strategic importance of the Digital Workplace, foster innovation—particularly in agentic AI—and support large organizations in transforming their work environments.
“The Cathay Capital team approached us with a tailor-made project that addressed our challenges, drawing on their deep sector expertise in B2B software. We are convinced that Cathay’s unique international ecosystem and proven ability to support ambitious scale-ups will allow us to reach a new level,” said Cyril de Queral, President and Founder of Powell.
“Thanks to the coherence of its product vision and strong execution capabilities, Powell has all the assets to consolidate its position among European leaders and establish itself as a global reference in the Digital Workplace. This transaction perfectly illustrates our investment approach and strategy: creating value through authentic and agile partnerships with ambitious entrepreneurs, and supporting them over the long term through Cathay’s platform and ecosystem,” added Jean-Marc Prunet, Partner at Cathay Capital.
About Powell
Powell, founded in 2016, is a global Digital Workplace provider trusted by regulated industries. The company has 550 clients worldwide and operates from offices in France, Germany, Australia, and the United States. Powell is fully built on Microsoft 365 and SharePoint, bridging IT, HR, and Communications needs while leveraging a strong partner ecosystem to deliver efficient, secure, and user-friendly digital workplaces.
Powell’s mission is to create engaging intranet experiences that enhance collaboration, productivity, and innovation across organizations. Key clients include: Quest Diagnostic, Duane Morriss, Steelwave, Crossfirst Bank.
For more information, visit www.powell-software.com.
About Cathay Capital
Cathay Capital is a private equity and venture capital firm that supports companies in Europe, North America, and Asia. Cathay Capital helps companies at all stages of development, from start-ups to mid-sized companies, to unlock growth opportunities, drive international expansion, and enable sustainable transformation. With its international reach and deep local expertise, its platform connects people – investors, entrepreneurs, management teams, and leading corporations – to share knowledge and resources, fostering the evolution and transformation of businesses. Founded in 2006 with a strong entrepreneurial heritage, Cathay Capital now manages more than 6 billion euros in assets and has completed more than 280 investments in sectors such as healthcare, technology, and consumer goods from its offices in Paris, New York, San Francisco, Munich, Berlin, Madrid, Shanghai, Beijing, and Singapore.
For more information, please visit www.cathaycapital.com