Ropes & Gray Advises 3i on Digital Barriers Investment

Ropes & Gray has advised 3i Group plc on its investment in Digital Barriers, a leading provider of IoVT (Internet of Video Things) surveillance and security products. 3i is investing alongside existing investor, Volpi Capital LLP, which will maintain a minority stake in the business. The transaction is conditional upon certain regulatory approvals and is expected to complete in Q3 2022. 

Digital Barriers – a UK-headquartered company, with offices across the US and Europe – provides a unique video compression technology, which allows live streaming over low-bandwidth environments, including cellular body worn cameras and an ever growing set of commercial applications. When coupled with its cloud-based, video management platform Digital Barriers is able to provide an end-to-end solution incorporating a wide range of AI-based operational, safety, and business intelligence analytics – the only such cloud video platform that works as effectively on cellular as on fixed networks. 

The company has been a trusted partner to leading law enforcement, intelligence and defence agencies around the world for many years and will continue to serve this market. Working closely with Intel, Digital Barriers has leveraged its unique IP to develop commercial off-the-shelf products that are now being sold by blue chip telecom and security partners such as AT&T, Vodafone, Fujitsu and G4S to a wide range of commercial and public sector customers across various end-markets. 

The partnership with 3i – a leading international investment manager focused on mid-market private equity and infrastructure – will enable Digital Barriers to accelerate its international expansion, invest further in its unique technology, significantly grow its go-to-market capabilities to support its channel partners and pursue targeted acquisitions to build out its differentiated solution. 

The Ropes & Gray team was led by private equity transactions partners John Newton and Helen Croke, alongside associates Victoria Srivastava, George Taylor, Padraic Daly, Nicholas Tallon, and trainees Calum Foster and Katie Gerasimidis. Other members of the team included tax partner Brenda Coleman and litigation & enforcement partner Brendan Hanifin, alongside counsel Lisa Kaltenbrunner and Steven Kaye, associates Benjamin Wonnacott, Kurt Fowler, Patrick Doherty and Rebecca Michelson and trainees William Allen and William Radcliffe.