Semiconductor company ARM has acquired embedded software specialist Simulity Labs for £11.7 million from Foresight, a leading private equity investment company.
Simulity creates embedded operating system software for SIM cards and embedded SIMs (‘eSIMS’), which allow IoT devices to connect to networks quickly and securely. The company is headquartered in Bangor, North Wales.
Foresight has already received £11.4 million to complete the deal with Softbank-owned ARM, but will receive up to £300,000 after 12 months if certain conditions are met. It has only owned Simulity Labs since last October and paid just £4 million for the company – so it’s just made an impressive three-fold return on its investment.
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Potent deal
According to a statement from Foresight, over the past few months, the Simulity Labs management team led by Stephane Fund has “successfully transitioned the company’s business model towards software licensing, launched into the lucrative IoT market with its eSIM technology and, operationally, increased staff numbers by 25 percent.”
New offices have opened in South Africa and India, to supplement existing ones in Northern Ireland and Wales.
James Livingston, a partner at Foresight, said it had been a pleasure to have worked with the company and help it grow over the past few months. “We are delighted to have supported the management team at Simulity in the rapid growth and transition of their business, and successful sale,” he said.
“The vision of the management team and their deep market knowledge enabled them to develop pioneering technology which will be a key enabler of the IoT market”
Meanwhile, Stephane Fund, founder and CEO of Simulity, said: “The institutional backing of Foresight allowed us to scale the business and continue to build our world leading team and technology, while also providing huge credibility in discussions with large global corporates.”
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