[Updated 8/2/18, 9:11 am. See below.] Mendix, one of the long-standing players in the business app development sector, is being snapped up by Siemens for 628 million euros, or about $730 million, according to a spokesperson. [Updated price.—Eds.]
The German industrial conglomerate will pay cash to acquire Boston-based Mendix, and it also plans to invest in the company’s research and development efforts and global expansion over the next few years, Mendix co-founder and CEO Derek Roos wrote in a blog post announcing the deal Wednesday.
Roos and his co-founders started Mendix in 2006 in the Netherlands. The idea was to speed up and simplify the process of developing software applications at big businesses, enabling even non-technical people to build new programs.
Mendix was able to get to cash-flow positive early on, and it didn’t raise a major venture capital round until a $13 million Series A deal in 2011. The company relocated its headquarters to Boston the following year. Overall, Mendix raised at least $38 million from investors including Prime Ventures, Battery Ventures, and Henq. The firm competes with the likes of OutSystems and Salesforce in the enterprise app market.
For Siemens, the acquisition continues the global manufacturer’s efforts to boost its software capabilities, as the physical and digital worlds continue to merge. Over the past decade, Siemens has invested more than $10 billion to acquire and expand software businesses, and build its connected devices platform, Roos wrote in the blog post. Siemens said this week it plans to simplify its business structure and increase its investments in digital products, electric mobility technologies, and the Internet of Things, Reuters reported. (See also related efforts in software by GE, Philips, and Rockwell Automation.)
“With millions of connected devices and systems, operations in more than 200 countries, and more than 15,000 software engineers, Siemens has access to know-how, expertise, and reach few others can match,” Roos wrote in the blog post. “Even fewer software companies can attempt to compete with such scale in ‘things.’”
