iDAKTO acquires cybersecurity specialist Stelau to challenge digital ID leaders

iDAKTO has acquired France-based cybersecurity and digital identity infrastructure firm Stelau as it gears up to challenge the leading global providers of digital identity, EUDI Wallets and critical digital infrastructure.

Stelau brings expertise in digital identity and assessing trust infrastructure to iDAKTO, according to the company announcement. iDAKTO also plans to integrate Stelau’s capabilities in compliance and security assessments to offer a solution that covers the entire digital identity value chain. The combined entity will address user enrollment and verification, biometrics and strong authentication, digital identity wallets, electronic signatures and trust services, security audits, assessments and certification, and support for eIDAS 2.0 and EUDI Wallet projects.

“The acquisition of Stelau is much more than a growth transaction,” says iDAKTO CEO and Founder Hassan Maad in the announcement. “It is a strategic acceleration that strengthens our ability to address the digital sovereignty challenges facing governments and large organisations. Together, we bring the expertise, the technology and the vision needed to build the trust infrastructures that will shape the digital economy for decades to come.”

The companies note the critical importance of digital sovereignty as a strategic challenge for the decade ahead, between Europe’s eIDAS 2.0 push and the EUDI Wallet rollout.

Maad was among voices emphasizing the value of decentralized digital ID at ID4Africa’s 2026 AGM in Abidjan this year. His company is also the technology partner for public digital identity service France Identité and leads the ID Campus initiative, through which it is working on France’s EUDI Wallet implementation.

“We share with iDAKTO a common conviction: digital trust will be one of the foundations of tomorrow’s societies and economies,” say Stelau France Founders Benoît Léger-Derville and Nicolas Chalanset in a joint statement accompanying the release. “By joining iDAKTO, we strengthen our capacity for innovation, our impact and our international reach, while preserving the technical excellence that defines our reputation with clients and partners.”

iDAKTO characterizes the move as the next step in its international growth. The company is now up over 100 employees, with deployments in Europe, Africa and the Middle East covering more than 10 million active digital identity wallets and 100 million secured transactions. The company has an average annual growth rate north of 20 percent in a global digital identity market it says is projected to surpass $100 billion by 2030.

The acquisition of Stelau gives iDAKTO a top position among European players in that market from which to meet rising government and business demand, according to the announcement.

Article Topics

acquisitions  |  digital ID  |  digital wallets  |  eIDAS  |  France  |  iDAKTO