Northzone has sold portfolio company Energy Micro to Nasdaq-listed Silicon Labs for USD170m.
The entity’s combined portfolio of products will continue to power the Internet of Things, smart energy and portable electronics.
Northzone, together with Investinor, has been an investor in Energy Micro since March 2010, and has achieved a 50 per cent IRR multiple on its investment in the late stage semiconductor provider.
Torleif Ahlsand, general partner in Northzone, has been chairman of Energy Micro since the initial investment. Northzone invested in the company with Investinor while Energy Micro was in the process of developing the second generation of its microcontroller family, after entering the market with its first product, the 32-bit EFM32 Gecko, only six months earlier.
“Energy Micro was the first investment for Northzone VI, and it has been a very exciting journey. Geir and his team have built a great and truly innovative and disruptive business. This sale marks an important milestone not only for our Fund, but also the overall semiconductor market,” says Ahlsand.
Based in Oslo, Norway, Energy Micro offers a portfolio of 32-bit microcontrollers (MCUs) and is developing multi-protocol wireless RF solutions based on the ARM Cortex-M architecture. Energy Micro’s energy-friendly MCU and radio solutions are designed to enable a broad range of power-sensitive applications for the Internet of Things (IoT), smart energy, home automation, security and portable electronics markets.
This acquisition accelerates Silicon Labs’ growth opportunities and positions the company as the foremost innovator in energy-friendly embedded solutions. The growth of the IoT market, coupled with continued deployment of smart grid and smart energy infrastructure, is driving strong demand for energy-efficient processing and wireless connectivity technology to enable connected devices in which low-power capabilities are increasingly important. Industry experts predict that the number of connected devices for the IoT will top 15 billion nodes by 2015 and reach 50 billion nodes by 2020.
“Silicon Labs and Energy Micro share a complementary vision of a greener, smarter, wirelessly connected world, and the foundation for this combined vision is ultra-low-power technology enabled by each company’s innovative mixed-signal design,” says Tyson Tuttle, president and chief executive of Silicon Labs. “This acquisition combines two proven leaders in nano-power MCU and wireless SoC design into a formidable force that will accelerate the deployment of energy-friendly solutions across the Internet of Things and smart energy industries.”
“The Energy Micro team is excited to join Silicon Labs,” said Geir Førre, president and CEO of Energy Micro, who after the closing will become vice president and general manager of Silicon Lab’s Energy-Friendly Microcontroller and Radio business unit, based in Oslo.
Under the agreement, the shareholders of Energy Micro will receive an up-front payment of USD115m in cash, plus approximately USD55m in deferred and earn-out consideration. Energy Micro is expected to contribute approximately USD7m in revenue in the second half of 2013 for Silicon Labs. The boards of each company have approved the acquisition, which awaits the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. The deal is expected to close in July 2013.
