Ekinops has signed an agreement to acquire Chimere, a French cybersecurity startup focused on universal Zero Trust Network Access, in a move that broadens the telecom and network supplier’s push into secure access services. Announced on March 24, the transaction covers 100% of Chimere’s shares and is expected to close before March 31, 2026, with Ekinops saying it does not expect a material effect on its 2026 financial statements. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the announcement clearly shifts attention toward cybersecurity rather than optical networking as the central theme of the group’s latest expansion step.
Deal Overview
The rationale is tied to Ekinops’ ambition to strengthen its Secure Access Service Edge offering, an area it has been building out under its Bridge strategic plan. Chimere’s platform is designed as an alternative to traditional VPNs and firewalls, enabling secure connections between users, devices and enterprise resources across remote work, digital nomad and third-party access scenarios. The product is sold on subscription and can be deployed as SaaS, in hybrid environments or on premises, giving Ekinops broader flexibility in how it serves regulated and distributed customers.
Why Chimere Matters
For Ekinops, the acquisition fills a specific gap in its security stack by adding ZTNA to capabilities it has already assembled around connectivity and network security. The company said the combination of SD-WAN, SSE and universal ZTNA allows it to claim a place among the smaller group of vendors pursuing a single-vendor SASE model, while also arguing that support for on-premises deployment differentiates it from many cloud-first rivals. French sector coverage has largely echoed that interpretation, presenting the deal as a practical step in Ekinops’ effort to assemble a more complete cybersecurity platform.
Strategic Context
The move also extends a broader acquisition sequence that began with Ekinops’ purchase of Olfeo in May 2025, which brought a sovereign SSE component into the portfolio. Channel and financial media have described the Chimere deal as the next layer in that plan, shifting Ekinops from adjacent security capabilities toward a more integrated SASE proposition aimed at enterprise and public-sector demand. That positioning matters because buyers in Europe increasingly weigh deployment control, supplier origin and regulatory alignment alongside technical performance when selecting secure access vendors.
Market Perspective
Chimere brings startup credentials as well as technology, having been launched in late 2019 after incubation within Thales before spinning off to pursue growth independently. Public LinkedIn posts from both Ekinops and Chimere’s chief executive framed the combination as a way to scale the ZTNA platform faster and to advance a more distinctly European cybersecurity offer in a market often dominated by much larger international players. Those comments do not alter the commercial facts of the transaction, but they do show that the acquisition is being positioned as both a product expansion and a statement about regional cyber sovereignty.
The announcement does not by itself guarantee market share gains for Ekinops, and the outcome will depend on how effectively the company integrates Chimere’s technology, customer base and sales approach into a unified commercial strategy. Even so, the acquisition is significant because it gives Ekinops a clearer story in one of enterprise cybersecurity’s more active segments and shows a mid-sized European infrastructure vendor leaning further into software-led security growth. If the company can translate that broader portfolio into cross-selling momentum after closing, the Chimere purchase could become an important milestone in Ekinops’ transition from connectivity specialist to fuller SASE contender.