The health connected, one of the territories tomorrow for consumer electronics? Nokia intends to acquire Withings, French nugget that has emerged in the connected objects. The Finnish manufacturer and the Withings announced both by releases, Tuesday, April 26 in the morning. The transaction, which amounts to 170 million euros, is expected to close early in the third quarter, 2016.
To believe the protagonists, interest is fully shared. “Our job, as co-founder of Withings, is to provide the means to grow faster than the market. It is ‘business as usual’. We met the Nokia teams Technologies few months ago. This first meeting was rather surprising We found a team that built a common vision with ours. how to impact the health of everyone through objects that are part of our daily lives, “says Challenges Cédric Hutchings CEO and co-founder of Withings.
Specifically, Withings will integrate Nokia Technologies, electronic consumer division of the Finnish manufacturer, based in California. Inside it, a health department will emerge, which will be directed by Cédric Hutchings. Its chairman Eric Carreel be her “adviser” Ramzi Haidamus, president of Nokia Technologies, and Rajeev Suri, President of the Chairman of Nokia Group, said Cedric Hutchings.
New step
a new step for Withings, which was imposed in the French Tech, and the emerging connected objects. The company, based in Issy-les-Moulineaux, founded in 2008 by Eric Carreel and Cédric Hutchings, specializes in connected products dedicated to health and well-being. By posting a few hits such balance-connected, its trackers activity and blood pressure monitors sold on Amazon as well as Fnac.
In July 2014, she had raised 23.5 million euros, with BPI France, Idinvest Partners 360 Capital Partners and Ventech, its historical shareholder. The capital was so far distributed between these investors and founders.
A new stage as Nokia Technologies, which aims to launch in the connected health. The move comes a few months after the acquisition by Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent, and two years after the resale by Nokia for its mobile branch (Lumia) to Microsoft.
This separate division of Nokia, headed for San Francisco (California) by Razzy Hadamous, is a legacy of Nokia’s consumer business. They thus count “ a portfolio of 30,000 patents, and 600 engineers, who will work with our teams,” said Cedric Huchings.
In fact, the 200 Withings employees will remain in its offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux, in Cambridge, Boston and Hong Kong, provides its leader. However, the unknown remains about the sustainability of the brand Withings if the acquisition succeeds. “The question remains open today,” said Cedric Hutchings right.
“A very good news for the French Tech”
Sure, this ad has not gone unnoticed. “This is very good news for the French Tech, just as was the acquisition of Adobe by Neolane,” said Jean-Baptiste Rudelle, CEO of Criteo. “The Withings situation was not always easy. One of the problems in our ecosystem is that there is no exit for investors. The current situation is complicated to conduct fundraisers,” he continues.
in fact, Withings has always been silent on its turnover, the number of units sold of its products, and even on its profitability.
“the identity of the purchaser is rather surprising since Nokia had a tendency to disengage from its consumer business. their shelf project, sold under the Nokia brand, was not so far gone, “analyzes his side Leslie Griffe Malval, from home fourpoints IM. “But the non-compete clause set by Microsoft on consumer activity due to expire end of 2016,” he continues. Connected objects could well be a new direction for Nokia.
No comments:
Post a Comment