Antwerp, Belgium / Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland, 11 August 2014 – CMOSIS, a leading independent supplier of advanced CMOS image sensors for industrial, scientific and professional markets, has acquired all outstanding shares of the Swiss AWAIBA Group. AWAIBA develops and markets innovative line-scan CMOS imagers for industrial web inspection, sub-mm CMOS camera modules for endoscopy, and on-board automotive cameras. The transaction was closed August 4, 2014.
“The acquisition of AWAIBA is a natural fit for CMOSIS. It strengthens our presence in existing markets and expands our activities in adjacent segments with complementary image sensor products. It also strengthens our relationship with our existing customer base,” stated Luc De Mey, CMOSIS Chairman and CEO.
“The acquisition became possible after TA Associates stepped in as a strong financial partner of CMOSIS earlier this year. This enabled horizontal expansion and growth acceleration,” Mr. De Mey continued. “AWAIBA is a profitable and well-established brand with an attractive and strongly growing client base. We are very excited to welcome their experienced team having an impressive track record of innovation and deep understanding of customer needs. This permits us to even better serve our customers as an independent and pure-play supplier of CMOS image sensors.”
“AWAIBA and CMOSIS are joining forces. This allows AWAIBA to secure the financial, human and technological resources for the development of next-generation line-scan and sub-millimeter sized image sensors,” commented Martin Waeny, AWAIBA founder and CEO. “The newly combined entity will take a much stronger position as a leading supplier of high-quality CMOS image sensors in the consolidating markets of advanced image sensors.”
A report published by IC Insights in July of this year predicts image sensor markets exceeding $13.2 billion by 2017. CMOSIS and AWAIBA are focusing on the high-growth segments such as machine vision, production cameras, traffic enforcement, medical devices and prosumer products. According to IC Insights these segments will account for about $3.3 billion in 2017. CMOS technology continues to gain market share over charge-coupled device (CCD) technology.
In the acquisition, Baker & McKenzie of Brussels, Belgium served as legal advisor to CMOSIS. Vision Ventures GmbH & Co. KG of Heppenheim, Germany acted as advisor to AWAIBA shareholders.
About CMOSIS
CMOSIS bvba is a pure-play supplier of standard and application-specific CMOS image sensors for the industrial and professional market covering applications such as machine vision, high-end DSC, scientific, medical, automatic data capture and space. CMOSIS was founded in November 2007 as a fabless CMOS image sensor vendor. CMOSIS has developed unique IP related to CMOS image sensors such as global shutter pixels, fast and low-noise AD converters, backside illumination and increased dynamic range. The company has grown continuously and consistently and has today about 70 co-workers. For more information, visit http://www.cmosis.com
CMOSIS INTERNATIONAL NV is the parent company of CMOSIS bvba (Antwerp, Belgium), and of AWAIBA Holding SA (Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland), with subsidiaries AWAIBA GmbH (Nuremberg, Germany) and AWAIBA Lda. (Funchal, Madeira, Portugal).
About AWAIBA
AWAIBA develops image sensors for industrial inspection, medical endoscopies and automotive on-board cameras. AWAIBA offers the widest off-the-shelf portfolio of high-speed line-scan sensors (Dragster) and is the leading innovator for small-size sub-mm camera modules for medical endoscopy. AWAIBA’s 1mm-size NanEye™ digital camera family is widely adopted in novel digital endoscopic equipment and one-time use medical devices. AWAIBA was founded by Martin Waeny in 2004. For more information, visit http://www.awaiba.com.
