Atombit, a data and AI consultancy backed by Palatine's buyout fund, announced on October 14, 2026 that it had acquired Elyadata, an AI and data engineering company with offices in Tunis and Paris.
The price was not disclosed.
Elyadata's chief executive, Salim Jouili, said the company's clients would keep the team they know while gaining the reach of a European group. Atombit described Elyadata as the first company to join it since it launched a new brand and website on October 1.
What Elyadata built
Elyadata was founded in Tunisia in 2017. It builds and runs AI systems for clients, covering engineering, solution design, development and operations, and works mainly for organisations in Europe in insurance, banking, retail and healthcare. It also carries out applied research with academic partners on international AI, data and machine learning projects.
The company has a team of about 60 people. Jouili said Elyadata exists to put AI to work in production, which he said was what Atombit had been created to do.
Elyadata presents itself as an AI and data engineering firm that combines business consulting, IT, AI engineering and applied research to help companies move AI projects into production. Its services run from AI discovery, maturity assessments and use-case design through to building and operating systems, embedded AI teams and data foundations. The work covers retrieval-augmented generation, AI agents, natural language processing, document intelligence and predictive models.
Clients named on its website include Allianz, BNP, Carrefour, MSIG, Agatha and CAHPP. Its research projects include TunArTTS, a dataset of about 10.5 hours of Tunisian Arabic speech for text-to-speech systems, and a benchmark for recognising names and entities across Arabic dialects. Its site now describes it as "an Atombit company".
Palatine did not say who founded Elyadata or whether it had raised outside capital.
“Elyadata exists to put AI to work in production, and that is what Atombit was created for.”
Why Atombit is buying
Atombit, founded and led by chief executive Paolo Righetti, has five offices across Europe and India and more than 200 AI and data scientists. Palatine first invested through its buyout fund in May 2025 and has since backed a string of acquisitions: Amplify Analytix, DWise Consulting, J2 Reliance, Profusion and Omega3C. Elyadata is the sixth.
Palatine said the deal widens Atombit's reach into French- and Arabic-speaking markets. Righetti said every company is being rebuilt around people and AI working together, and that Elyadata's team thinks and works the way Atombit does. He said he was delighted to welcome Jouili and his team.
Danielle Garland, investment director at Palatine, said demand for value-added consultancy advice keeps growing as AI changes how businesses operate.
That is six purchases in about 17 months, or roughly one every three months. Palatine did not disclose how much it invested in Atombit or the value of any of the acquisitions.
French- and Arabic-speaking markets
Palatine framed the deal around geography. Atombit's existing offices are in Europe and India, and Elyadata gives it a base in Tunisia and a second team in Paris, which Palatine said broadens Atombit's reach into French and Arabic markets.
Jouili said Elyadata chose Atombit for its people as much as for the opportunity, and that staff would gain new colleagues and new markets. Righetti said the two companies think and work the same way.
What happens next
Elyadata's clients in insurance, banking, retail and healthcare will continue to be served by the same team, according to the announcement. Atombit did not say whether the Elyadata name would be kept or folded into its new brand.
With six acquisitions since Palatine's investment in May 2025, Atombit is assembling a group of specialist data and AI firms around a single brand. Garland's comments suggest Palatine expects demand for hands-on help with AI projects to keep growing.
