Leading indoor data solutions company, Inpixon, is set to acquire global location awareness technology company, Nanotron Technologies GmbH (nanotron). The transaction is expected to increase Inpixon’s revenues by over $5 million on an annual basis and to be accretive.
Nanotron Technologies, headquartered in Berlin, Germany, has established itself over the past two decades as a leading provider of innovative IoT solutions for real-time location systems (RTLS) and indoor and outdoor positioning solutions utilizing both industry-standard technologies, such as ultra-wideband (UWB), and patented proprietary wireless communication technologies, such as Chirp Spread Spectrum (CSS). Nanotron was named by MarketsandMarkets as one of the vendors dominating in the global UWB market along with Apple, Samsung, Decawave, NXP and others.
Inpixon believes this acquisition is transformational for the company due to several factors:
- Strengthen and expand Inpixon's product portfolio and capabilities for UWB, RTLS, and 2.4 GHz CSS, increasing precision and decreasing latency to locate assets and people in real-time.
- Expand Inpixon’s intellectual property portfolio, including patents covering its symmetrical double-sided two-way ranging (SDS-TWR) licensed by Decawave.
- Expand Inpixon’s user base. Nanotron cites that it has more than 500 deployments to date, including several large-scale deployments monitoring tens of thousands of anchors and tags.
- Deepen Inpixon's geographic presence in regions outside of North America including Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East.
- Expands Inpixon's partner relationships with marquee distribution and technology partners, such as Arrow Electronics, DigiKey and Decawave.
- Enhance the company’s ability to design proprietary sensor systems, including chips and multifunctional sensor systems for various industries.
- Broaden Inpixon's industry coverage with construction, manufacturing, mining, autonomous vehicles, and livestock, plus expand use cases including live positioning, asset tracking, collision avoidance, man-down and worker safety.
According to Nadir Ali, CEO of Inpixon, Nanotron’s first-in-class products, patents, and other assets significantly enhance Inpixon’s overall Indoor Intelligence platform. Through this acquisition, they are adding one of the foremost engineering teams in the industry -- a pioneer in the development of location-based technologies. Through the integration of technologies, Inpixon looks forward to providing seamless integration across both indoor and outdoor positioning applications.
Soumya Das, Chief Operating Officer of Inpixon, added that Nanotron’s Chirp technologies are unique and give Inpixon a formidable offering for tag tracking in the 2.4 GHz ISM band, with accuracy to the one-meter level and up to five hundred meter in range. The 30-centimeter accuracy offered by UWB is essential to helping large enterprise and government customers address some particularly tough challenges. Additionally, nanotron's tag-to-tag communication methodologies can be incorporated into Inpixon's Workplace Readiness solutions for advanced social distancing and contact tracing capabilities to help businesses reopen safely. Inpixon intends to leverage nanotron’s established global customer base, as well as their extensive system integrator and reseller relationships, in order to expand customer reach, as well as to provide significant cross-selling and up-selling opportunities.
Nanotron’s IoT sensors, tags, tag modules and software incorporate the following technologies and positioning methodologies:
Third-party market research firm MarketsandMarkets projects the location-based services (LBS) and real-time location systems (RTLS) market will grow from USD $17.8 billion in 2020 to USD $39.2 billion by 2025, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.1%. Specific to UWB, MarketsandMarkets estimates the global UWB market will grow from USD $1.1 billion in 2020 to USD $2.7 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 19.6%.
In accordance with the terms of a Share Purchase Agreement, dated October 5, 2020 (“Purchase Agreement”), Inpixon, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Inpixon GmbH, as purchaser will acquire 100% of the outstanding capital stock of nanotron with cash on hand for an aggregate purchase price of $8.7 million. This transaction is anticipated to close on or about October 6, 2020. For further information regarding the terms and conditions of the acquisition contained in the Purchase Agreement, please see Inpixon’s Current Report on Form 8-K, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov.
Answers to frequently asked questions about this announcement can be found on the FAQ available here.
