On 31 May, SoftBank Group Corp announced that it was investing in OSIsoft LLC, a private industrial software maker to acquire a significant minority stake. The industrial software manufactured by OSIsoft is used to manage plants and factories.
The investment by SoftBank is on the higher end of hundred of millions and has taken OSIsoft’s valuation to several billion dollars now. To achieve this stake, SoftBank intends to buy out VC investors KleinerPerkins Caufield & Byers, TCV and Tola Capital. Mitsui & Co. from Japan will continue to be an investor.
The world’s biggest players in industries ranging from General Electric Co. to Siemens AG have been using increasing amounts of software to reduce costs and improve efficiency of their supply chains.
OSIsoft chief executive and founder Pat Kennedy revealed recently that the company’s sales generate about $400 million in sales every year.
According to an anonymous source, this investment is going to be offered through SoftBank’s new $93 billion Vision Fund, the world’s largest private equity fund. It has the backing of Saudi Arabia’s main sovereign wealth fund and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment.
SoftBank’s investment is a part of its plan to invest in companies that will form the foundation for the next stage in the Information Revolution. OSIsoft manufactures software for industries, and helps them capture information from machines such as ships, boilers, and power plants.
The company is also a software developer for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The market is expected to reach $120 billion by 2021. The Internet of Things is one of the main investment themes of Masayoshi Son, the founder and CEO of SoftBank. The two companies will collaborate on IIoT services and solutions for different industries including telecommunications.
The past few years have seen several mergers in the industrial software sector. These include the acquiring of ServiceMax by General Electric and the huge investment of $2.8 billion by Roper Technologies when it bought Deltek.
