Dassault Systèmes announced today that it has acquired California-based Apriso, which provides manufacturing software solutions, for $205M, in order to enrich its 3DEXPERIENCE platform. The acquisition will allow Dassault to expand its offerings “across multiple industries, such as consumer goods, packaged goods, high-tech, life sciences, transportation & mobility, aerospace & defense and industrial equipment.”
“This acquisition will merge 3DEXPERIENCE and Apriso’s solutions and deliver a new business experience to our customers,” said Bernard Charlès, President and CEO, Dassault Systèmes. “The question isn’t simply, ‘what is the next innovative idea?’ but rather ‘Can you produce your idea quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively? Can you excel in global business responsiveness and local production agility?’ These are the questions the 3DEXPERIENCE business platform answers.”
Dassault has been an understated yet active acquirer over the years, including Netvibes last year & the prolific Exalead, which has since seen several former employees starting companies (like Algolia). The company has also actively invested in companies like blueKiwi (whose founder Carlos Diaz raised $4M for Qwarter last year after selling blueKiwi to Atos); while the company has lost a bit of its unique positioning over the past few years, looking more like a lesser version of IBM than anything tangible, it continues to innovate and expand its value for its existing client base.
This most recent acquisition serves as a small reminder: French companies still buy great California companies (so maybe let’s not get too upset when French companies get acquired by California companies).