(Editor’s note: We started the Eindhoven Business Briefing in 2017, because we had more news in our headquarters city – which has a huge expat population – than we could possibly post. The future really is being invented here. Send your news to: [email protected])
This is an historic time for Eindhoven-based startups.
Silicon Valley IoT firm ForeScout Technologies has acquired SecurityMatters, based in Eindhoven, for $113 million (98 million euros) in cash. Not bad considering the 9-year-old SecurityMatters had raised about $5 million from multiple backers including Emerald Technology Ventures, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, Phoenix Contact Innovation Ventures, and KPN Ventures.
https://youtu.be/SwyEZCWFZ3Q
SecurityMatters offers both cybersecurity and operational monitoring capabilities. The idea is to monitor networks while detecting, or even predicting, threats and system anomalies before they happen. SecurityMatters has clients in the electric power, oil and gas, water, chemicals and refineries, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and infrastructure sectors.
ForeScout is publicly traded on the NASDAQ market under the symbol “FSCT.” Clients include some of the largest (and newest) companies in the United States including HubSpot, Humana, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
You can see the full news release here.
So why is this relatively modest exit important? First, because this is Silicon Valley buying Eindhoven tech! Second, it’s because Eindhoven hasn’t had a notable exit since Medtronic acquired Sapiens for $200 million back in 2014. Till now.
With companies such as Additive Industries, EFFECT Photonics, StudyPortals, Lightyear and Amber Mobility on the horizon, could this be the first of many?
HighTechXL’s Give Back Monday
If this build-it-and-sell-it startup thing sounds like fun, you need to come to this event next Monday, 26 November.
If you have a startup – anything from an idea to a team with an MVP – you are invited to HighTechXL for Give Back Monday. Give Back Monday is a way to reach out to startup teams who can use some expert advice, direction, fresh thinking or maybe a bit of encouragement.
In other words, the unvarnished truth about what the world is looking for in teams, tech and tenacity.
You’re free to bounce ideas and brainstorm with expert pools to get detailed feedback about where you are in the process of building your company. HighTechXL team members and community experts will be on hand to answer your questions about the trickiest aspects of starting up in a variety of domains.
Topics will include pitching, investors relations, business plans and financials.
Give Back Monday is free, so sign up here and claim your spot!
Give Back Monday is 26 November from 4 to 6:30 at HighTechXL, Building 1 on High Tech Campus Eindhoven. HighTechXL is the Netherlands’ only deep tech business accelerator.
Ping [email protected] and tell her what you need and she’ll make sure to have an expert at the event to answer your questions.
EFFECT PHOTONICS RAISES B ROUND
EFFECT Photonics just completed its B round of funding, according to a new release. EFFECT builds “low-cost, wavelength-tunable optical transceivers with industrial temperature specification to be deployed within the next generation 5G mobile infrastructure.” This is at the vanguard of the switch from electrical circuitry in the semiconductor industry to using light packets to transmit data.
That much we knew, but we had to do a bit of research to really get it. And we’ve been trying to understand the promise of photonics for a while now.
EFFECT tech uses dense wavelength division multiplexing, or DWDM. DWDM technology allows optical carrier signals to transmit through a single optical fiber by using different wavelengths of laser light. EFFECT Photonics uses different alloys of Indium Phosphide on a single wafer “allowing the active and passive optical functions of a system to be created within a single chip,” according to the website.
In the real world, EFFECT chips are used, or will be used, for:
• 5G mobile interconnectivity with many different devices such as high-def streaming smartphones
• Autonomous and intelligence-assisted vehicles
• HD and ‘always on’ security cameras
• Augmented reality and virtual reality
Photonics will replace transistor microcircuitry because there’s basically no choice. IoT, Netflix, Facebook, YouTube and, well, everything depends on ever-faster computer chips soaking up more and more power. Using light instead of electrons will be faster and more efficient.
Or as TU/e professor Ton Backx told Dispatches, “What we can do with photonic integrated circuit technology is reduce a cabinet of electronics to a single photonic circuit – and with higher accuracy and higher resolution. ”
EFFECT Photonics is an 8-year-old spinout of Technical University of Eindhoven. And we never get tired of saying it: The future is being created here.
ADDITIVE INDUSTRIES LANDS VOLKSWAGEN
Eindhoven-based Additive Industries has a new customer – the world’s largest car company.
Additive Industries has started additive manufacturing advanced tooling and spare parts for the Volkswagen Group. In September, Additive Industries installed its latest version of the MetalFAB1 system at VW’s Wolfsburg manufacturing facility and the first products have rolled out, according to a news release.
Basically, the MetalFAB1 and Additive Industries software, through the wizardry of lasers, 3D metal printing and coatings technology, allow VW to 3D print parts using more than one material. Here are all the specs for the thing, which is the size of a room.
Additive Industries also has deals with other automotive companies including the Sauber Formula 1 team. And basically, this is the vanguard of The Fourth Industrial Revolution.
STUDYPORTALS’ BARKE ON BOARD AS INVESTOR
Studyportals, which matches students aspiring to international studies with unis, has gotten additional funding from its own board chairman, Bill Barke. Barke is American investor who was a top executive at Pearsons, the London-based education publishing and assessment giant.
The Studyportals news release doesn’t state how much Barke is investing, but his capital injection is in addition to a 5 million euro round led by London-based VC KEEN Venture Partners and an October investment by David Vismans, Booking.com chief products officer.
Studyportals, founded in 2009, is among the fastest growing tech companies in the Netherlands, according to Deloitte and other rankings.
Briefs:
• We just got this invite from Philips Healthworks to the Philips Global Breakthrough Day 12 December at the Evuloun (the Flying Saucer!) events space. You’re not going to want to miss this chance to see medical AI breakthroughs.
Here are some of the highlights from the invite, which makes it clear that all details aren’t final:
Startup presentations on groundbreaking AI innovations in Radiology, Ultrasound and Oncology –check the participating startup here.
Fireside chat with Frans van Houten – CEO of Philips – discussing how AI is going to impact the future of healthcare
Marketplace with exhibitions on AI innovations in healthcare; an opportunity to meet the startups and great innovators
Brilliant networking opportunity with Philips Innovation and Strategy leadership, influential healthcare professionals, great entrepreneurs and more!
• How competitive is the Netherlands? Well, pound for pound, the Netherlands is among the most competitive countries in the world, according to two recent lists.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report has the Netherlands ranked at No. 6 behind the United States, Singapore, Germany, Switzerland and Japan. Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development ranks the Netherlands at No. 5 when it comes to attracting and/or developing talent only behind Switzerland, Denmark, Norway and Austria. Not bad for a country the size of Silicon Valley (San Francisco to San Jose) with a population of 18 million.
Careers:
• IPOS is looking for a UI/UX designer. IPOS founder Menke Steenbergen is digitizing the equestrian industry, which is huge. You can read more about her here.
Qualifications for the UI/UX designer job include:
You are a passionate UI/UX designer with experience of bringing several interactive applications to an app store
You have a great sense of style that is appealing to a high-end segment consumers
You are using software like Photoshop, InDesign or InVision for sharing your designs
You have experience in designing for WooCommerce and WordPress
Experience in designing applications for JavaScript and ReactNative technology
Available 2 or 3 days a week on location in Eindhoven (High Tech Campus)
You work independently but look for input from your team where needed
• Because we work at High Tech Campus Eindhoven, we see the news crawls on all the CCTVs around campus.
Here are some of the more interesting:
TomTom is looking for a C++ expert/senior software developer for their Eindhoven automotive team. The geo-location pioneer has several other job openings as well.
Imec, a deep-tech company based in Leuven, Belgium, also has operations at HTC. They’re looking for a data architect. Imec Netherlands has several other open positions at HTC.
Smart Photonics needs a process engineer.
You can see all the HTC listings here.
